#149 Capitol Reef National Park Sandcreek RV Park

We made it to Capitol Reef and we had arranged to receive a package at this RV park. It was the rearview mirror that was kicked in by a horse back at Carlsbad. I can't prove it but I know there was a bunch of Horses hanging around the truck and the next morning I looked in the mirror was cracked smashed and had mud on it. I found a nice replacement online and as we checked in the manager handed us the mirror.

When I was in this area, I found all these places that I had never heard of. All I really knew was it was somewhere up the way from Carlsbad Caverns and we should check it out.

I’m trying not to miss anything. I looked at google maps to show me the national parks in this area. One of them was called capitol reef. I had never heard of it but it's on the list so we are. Capital reef like a bunch of multi-colored rocks and cliffs.

Geologically it's a big long rift or canyon that you know just degraded and what was exposed was these cool colored rock formations. One of the things we learned on the way was that there was some gray almost bluish-looking rocks It turns out that's uranium ore. I guess it takes an enormous concentration of it to get any amount of uranium. They said that if you were to get a bucket full it would only have as much radiation is like the glow in the dark hands on a watch. There were other fun facts about how when people found out uranium existed, they would put it in little trinket bags and hang around their neck to keep away bugs and disease. It probably just gave them cancer. Capital Reef was also a bit of a driving adventure. We drove around for a 10-mile loop and just kind of enjoy the scenery. We learned about a settlement of a large group of Mormons who lived in the area along the river. They operated a very successful apple orchard. A hundred years go by and now no one lives there. I guess the big city called the kids and they moved on. When the kids move on the place dies out, I guess.

We took a right turn down a one-lane dirt road and found ourselves at the base of a cool canyon. You could look up at sheer walls for a couple of hundred feet. It would have been awful if any boulders had fallen as the road was no wider than the canyon. It almost had a Closter phobic feel.

We loved our experience at Capital Reef and spent two nights and moved on after that.