Capitol Reef National Park

Our first stop on Saturday's southward journey was the Capitol Reef National Park in Utah. (UT has five national parks.) To get to the park from Green River we drove a scenic byway highway. That means lower speed limits, more traffic during hunting season & school holidays and beautiful scenery. It took us at least 8 hours to drive 227 miles! Here are some of the reasons for our long day...

hard to resist... a waterfall

this one was along the hwy leading to our morning destination

 Curt was looking for a hike

this is Hickman Arch

I foolishly thought I could make the 1.7 mile hike

NOT! high elevation & out of shape

I did about a mile

 I did see lava rocks

and the Capitol Dome, for which the park was named

 sights on a side road

 more unique formations & color

we saw lots of color from the deciduous trees

 look carefully on the road

this family of three crossed the road in front of us

Curt was riding shotgun, so it was his job to get photos

mule deer?

That was the morning part of our day and about half of our miles.