Day 20: Capitol Reef, UT to Brian Head, UT

We got up at 7:30am and went straight to a nearby gas station to fill up. We microwaved oatmeal to eat on the short drive into Capitol Reef National Park, which was just seven tenths of a mile down the road. Abe was complimented by the park ranger at the visitor center because he had done some research, and we got a good sense of what our itinerary should be. We drove the entire 10-mile scenic drive of the park, the last 2.5 miles of which was unpaved and quite precarious (video below).

We parked our car at the end of the drive and started on the Capitol Gorge Trail, listed as an easy hike. The one-mile walk on sand and rocks displayed incredible rock walls all around us, and then we followed signs for the Tanks, large, naturally-occurring pools of water that sustain the wildlife in the area. It wasn’t entirely clear where the trail, which took us up the rocks, went, and so we found ourselves walking sideways at times on the rocks to try to find the tanks, which we ultimately did locate and found quite cool. We were similarly confused on how to get back down to the trail but figured it out. This was definitely one of our favorite hikes of the trip.

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We returned to our car and drove a few miles to Gifford House, where we had heard they had fresh pies. While Arielle might have preferred strawberry rhubarb, we decided to split the apple pie, which was very good. We ate our pie outside and spoke with a couple that was traveling on an organized two-week tour from Las Vegas. Our last two stops in the park were at orchards near the entrance, where we picked apples that cost one dollar per pound (to be left in a box on the honor system). Arielle even snagged a pear that looked cute but tasted terrible, probably because the season had ended a day earlier.

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Getting up early has its perks, and so we made a choice at 1:45pm to drive the scenic route recommended by Abe’s friend Kim that would take a full hour longer to get to where we were staying. We went back past our hotel and made a left on Scenic Byway 12. We drove for 112 miles until we reached Bryce Canyon. We preferred our drives in Wyoming, but this was a beautiful drive nonetheless.

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With an hour and twenty minutes left to go to Brian Head, UT, we stopped in Bryce Canyon City at Ruby’s Inn, a giant general store and Best Western hotel where USY on Wheels had stayed in the past. We walked across the street to an ice cream shop, where Arielle saw the last of the mint chip being finished. Fortunately, the cherry chocolate chip was good too (the chocolate flakes were as delicious as Baskin Robbins, according to Arielle) and Abe got a great chocolate flavor called Brownies on the Moon. The small “scoop” was only $1.99 and it was so much ice cream!

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We enjoyed it as we walked back to our car and started the drive to Brian Head, quickly realizing that we weren’t going to be passing any major towns or stores on our way to our friend Alex’s condo, since the scenic route didn’t take us past the bigger places he had suggested stopping for groceries. The 70-mile drive was woodsy and nice, and we had a little bit of trouble finding the condo because Arielle was reading the directions we had gotten from Alex wrong and looking for all the wrong markers. We still pulled in by 6:15pm, and took a few essential items up the many staircases to the beautiful condo. We settled in and even started a load of laundry! Thanks, Alex and Kate, for this wonderful place to stay! We cooked some pasta we found in the pantry for dinner, and Arielle finished her Arches Thai leftovers. We watched some TV, folded some laundry, and Abe even managed to convince Arielle to go to sleep early so that we could get up at 6:45am the next morning!

Approximate number of miles covered: 176

Day 19: Moab, UT to Capitol Reef, UT

We said it every day but today we finally did it. We got an early start, waking up at 6:30am and leaving our hotel after grabbing some breakfast by 7:45am. We drove about six minutes to Arches National Park, which we had read got very busy between 8am and noon, though we encountered very few people during our time there. Less than a minute after we entered the park, we were driving along and through the red rocks. We drove straight to the Windows Section, where we walked to the North Window and South Window, both of which provide incredible views through the giant holes that make up the arches. Our next stop was a hike to the upper overlook to view the Delicate Arch from a distance, which was slanted and stunning. We were glad we weren’t any of the tiny ants we saw who actually hiked to the arch, though. We couldn’t get over all the arches and rock formations as we drove out of the park to head to our next national park!

We discovered that although they are only twelve miles apart, Island in the Sky and The Needles - the two sections of Canyonlands National Park - actually require two hours of driving to get between them, so we decided to save The Needles for a future trip. We drove about half an hour to Island in the Sky. We headed straight to Upheaval Dome, where we crushed what was supposed to be a 1.5-hour hike in 45 minutes. The giant hole in the ground that we saw was likely caused by a crater, though geologists aren’t sure. The colors and the view were spectacular, and we were shocked that our phones began to ring through with texts at the top, something we weren’t used to during our national park days. We drove all the way in to the park to Grand View Point Overlook, where we started what was described as an easy two-mile hike but felt infinitely longer and a bit more challenging due to the gradual climb. It was pretty amazing with canyon views of what looks like another planet. Arielle did a great job of navigating the trail by the stone block markets, though she was convinced it continued past the cliff we reached to provide a round-trip route. Thoroughly exhausted, we drove to one last hike at Mesa Arch, which we were told by a ranger in Arches was as stunning as Delicate Arch. At first we didn’t think so, but we ultimately appreciated the view it offers of the valley below through its archway, and the hike to get there really wasn’t anything to complain about, though it was a little more slippery and sandy than we had encountered thus far.

We left the park and began our drive to our next Utah National Park: Capitol Reef. Trying to save data by turning our GPS off on long drives failed us for the first time as we missed a turn, accidentally adding 25 minutes to our drive, which was not a big deal but annoying nonetheless. We called our hotel, the Capitol Reef Resort, and were a bit concerned when we found out that there were wagons and teepees as room options, but were rewassured that we had a traditional, albeit exterior-facing, hotel room, which is not usually our preference, but certainly was in this case! When we arrived, we were very pleased at what we found, which was a beautiful room in a perfectly nice looking motel that was right off the main road. After checking in, Arielle brought her computer with her as we drove five minutes down the road to the Saddlery, a steakhouse and bar, which looked like a warehouse from the outside, but was carpeted and looked a little like a casino from the inside. It was relatively empty and peaceful. Arielle ordered the only vegetarian entree on the menu - a cheese quesadilla - and Abe got a baseball steak, something he had seen on a few menus over the past few weeks and felt like trying. Both dishes were great, though the focus of the meal was much more on Arielle finishing event details due that evening.

We drove a few minutes back to the hotel, worked like crazy to meet the deadline, and got to the pool a whopping fifteen minutes before it closed, only to find it being closed up already. The staff, however, were very nice and graciously reopened for us (they have preemptively closed it early) and we got to enjoy ten minutes in the huge outdoor pool gazing up at the stars, which was an incredible experience. We then got our s’mores kit from the Ridgeline and walked out to behind some of the rooms near where the cool-looking wagons and teepees were located. We enjoyed freshly-roasted s’mores as the wind picked up and we had a bonfire all to ourselves. It wasn’t as early as we had planned to go to sleep, but we still turned in on the early side so that we could take advantage of an early start the next day.

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Approximate number of miles covered: 217