USA Road Trip Day 10..Escalante > Reef Capital Pk > Moab,UT

Well here we go again …another crystal clear morning, breakfast with the other lodgers > good but not great > Natalia’s forte is not cooking/presentation but all is good …enjoyed a conversation about walking trails in the UK with another couple and it is time to hit the road. Today we will stop at Capitol Reef National Park which is en route to Moab. Very few people on the road as we keep up a good pace and in about 1.5 hours we are at the park…..

Capitol Reef National Park is a hidden treasure filled with cliffs, canyons, domes and bridges in the Waterpocket Fold, a geologic monocline (a wrinkle on the earth) extending almost 100 miles. There is a scenic road which we follow to get a feel for the park……

……at the end, the road continues unpaved……we continue on into a slot canyon as the road looks decent, and, quickly see why taking a 4×4 and off-roading here could be both fun and interesting…..again, the creations of nature are impressive:

The park has a rich ancient history as well as one more current when homesteaders arrived planting orchards etc…..an example of this is the Gifford Homestead…

As planned, we stop at the Hickman Bridge Trailhead for an easy hike, which rises via a series of switchbacks from the river and leads uphill into the desert…..

first arriving at a small arch……

 

 

…….then passing through a sparsely vegetated landscape with towering mountains looming …..

….before reaching some 400 feet above the Fremont Rivert a larger arch which spans 133 feet, called the Hickman Natural Bridge …

…the trail returns heading down to the bluff overlooking the Fremont River …..

…along the way we noticed that there must have some kind of lava occurrence as there are round lava rocks interspersed with the other rocks…

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…….before returning to the trailhead…

…all in all a nice walk of 2 miles to break-up the day, although not providing the drama of previous days….Back to the car and it is time to put the pedal to the metal especially on the Interstate where the speed limit is 80MPH….vroom, vroom….

and, by late afternoon we reach Moab …another town with a super setting. The Neighbourhood Suites are a self check-in affair and our digs are quite pleasant although a little funky…..

Dinner at the Moab Diner, not bad …….

………time to chill for the evening, tomorrow we are anticipating an exciting day!!!