Capitol Reef National Park is located at South Central Utah. Out of the 5 Utah National parks, Capitol Reef National Park is probably the least popular one. There isn't any popular landmarks within Capitol Reef National Park that is as famous as Zion, Bryce, Canyonlands, or Arches. Capitol Reef National Park doesn't have a gate at the entrance either. It is purely based on the honor system for people to purchase the park ticket.
Capitol Reef National Park is our third stop of our Utah road trip. In the very early morning, we first visited Cathedral Valley. Cathedral Valley was quite magnificent and it is just as amazing as the landscapes in other national parks. We spent about 4 hours there and when we got out of the valley, it was about noon.
After having a brief break, we headed to Hickman Bridge Trail for a quick and easy hike. The hike was only about 2 miles round trip and we finished in about 1.5 hours. It was interesting to see the arch in Capitol Reef National Park.
As we drove down the road of scenic drive, we stopped by the Petroglyph view point. The Petroglyph was quite faint, not as obvious as the ones we saw at Mouse Tank Trail in Valley of Fire State Park. It looked like the Petroglyph was trying to draw some alien figures.
Before we reached the visitor center, we stopped by the historic Fruita Schoolhouse. It was quite a small house with about 10 seats in there and a old school fireplace. The door was locked but we could see the inside by peeking through the windows.
After visiting the small visitor center of the park, we headed South to the historic district of Fruita. We saw the historic orchard and farm buildings. We then stopped by the Gifford Homestead. This historic place sells amazing homemade pies as we were told. Unfortunately all the pies were sold out and only ice cream is left. We were told that pies are sold out at 11AM in the morning, really fast.
After enjoying the ice cream, we then went to Panorama Point. Although it is called Panorama Point, it wasn't really that high up to see everything. There wasn't much landscape to see either. The road by Panorama Point also lead to Gooseneck Overlook and we did this 1 mile hike. The Gooseneck Overlook was not interesting either. It was a small overlook into the canyon carved by the river, but the view was not really spectacular. We were quite tired at this point and did not bother to do the Sunset Point hike.
We then checked in into Capitol Reef Resort and the cabin we booked was quite nice. Capitol Reef Resort also offers stay at Conestoga wagons or Tipis, which were interesting options too. The cabin that we got was really nice though. It had its own stereo system and there are real furs covering the bed. We really liked it.
When the night comes, we went for stargazing at Panorama Point. Capitol Reef National Park is a great place to do stargazing. It was so dark that we could barely see anything. The Milkyway above us was so amazing. The temperature at night was just right and we really enjoyed our time outdoor at night under the stars.
In general, while Capitol Reef National Park may not offer as much fun as other national parks, we really loved Cathedral Valley here and do recommend to spend a day at the park instead of just drive through it.
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