Have you ever heard of Capitol Reef? I hadn’t until I started looking at my National Parks book and seeing what lined up between Salt Lake City and Vegas. It’s beautiful! And not as crowded as say, Zion.

We stayed at Capitol Reef Inn & Cafe (the food service was sooo slow but the Inn was clean and nice and had the National Park as a backdrop) since we drove in late the night before and wanted to explore first thing in the morning. We went to the nearby supermarket to get some deli sandwhiches for lunch and extra water before heading out.

 

Our main hike was to Hickman Bridge (a moderate hike).

 

The elevation was a bit intense for those that don’t hike so my dad didn’t make it to the bridge but he made it up to some awesome views before heading back. I only made it because Alex was carrying our 20 pound child. My mom made it fine! With our shade / water breaks. It took us about two hours to get there and back on the loop through the “bridge”.

After our hike we drove to the Petroglyphs turn out (easy to find by following a sign off the road, within 1-2 miles from the visitor’s center) for a nice walk along the boardwalk.

A very short walk brought us to the main petroglyphs (and to a very friendly dog named Annie that Kaya petted and hugged for a while before we could move on, much to the enjoyment of toddler and dog).

Along the boardwalk there are several more smaller petroglyphs, mainly of animals. Obviously the large one front and center was awesome and worth the trip in itself but it was also fun to try to find them on our own, like a real life Where’s Waldo.

 

As we drove out off the park we saw deer and a changing beautiful scenery as we took Highway 12 to our next destination, Bryce Canyon.