On our first trip into Capital Reef we drove along the main road and also down the “Scenic Drive” which is paved for several miles, then turns into a dirt road that goes deep into the canyons. We saw lots of great rock formations along this drive, including some named formations and some native american petroglyphs. On the dirt road, we drove between sheer high cliffs that felt like we were in a large city with skyscrapers! It was an eerie feeling, and we were glad it wasn’t threatening to rain because we were driving down a wash and a flash flood would have wiped us out!

The park is called Capital Reef for two separate reasons. The Reef part is because these steep sheer cliffs that run for over 100 miles were an impassable barrier to pioneers who came through this area. They called any such impassable barrier a reef, and this was the worst they had seen. The Capital part is because of a huge dome formed from an ancient sand dune that looks like the Capital Building dome. Hence, the early settlers named it the Capital Dome.

There’s lots more of the Capital Reef park that can be seen on hikes and other drives. We went on a hike to a natural bridge,a nd on a drive through the Reef on a much longer dirt road. I talk about what we saw on those trips in other entries.

Here are pictures we took during our first trip into Capital Reef: