The drive to Capitol Reef was stunningly beautiful.
In the park we came across this place, the Behunin cabin, which housed a family of 7 before they moved down the road to Fruita, where it didn't flood so badly. We're enjoying our small space living, but we can't imagine living here with five children!
Went for a nice hike to see more arches.
We've seen so many beautiful wildflowers on this trip.
And lots of lizards.
And sandstone potholes eroded by wind and rocks or water.
Matthew found a pictograph in this one after Cheryl got out of it. Do you see the image that looks like a bear claw? The Ranger we spoke to had no idea that there was one there but said it was definitely in the style of other pictographs in the park. Matthew wants naming rights 😉
Of course, we had to crawl up into the potholes, which were a wonderfully cool respite from the 90+ degree heat.
We love coming across these survey markers.
We reached this after a pretty steep climb and were thinking we had reached the destination arch.
But no, we had more climbing to do.
It was worth it.
More cool formations on the way back down.
Pretty fronds on a fir.
And dripping sap.
We went to the area of Fruita, a Mormon settlement in a green valley where they planted lovely orchards. Our friend Karen Williams clued us into the homemade pies sold at a cabin in the valley, so of course, Chery had to get one of each flavor.
This one is in honor of Karen and Andy. It was delicious!
Driving through the rest of Capitol Reef and Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument was just as beautiful. We are amazed by how different the geology looks in such short spaces.
Loved the contrast of the newly leafed aspens with the darker pines. After a fire kills the pines aspens take over. A grove all turns yellow together in the fall because they are actually all one plant, clones sharing a root system.
And we reached our highest elevation to date - 9600 feet. And there was still snow.
Tonight we found an isolated spot off the road to boondock. Beautiful skies again but the moon is waxing and obscuring some of the stars. If only we weren't too tired to stay up and admire them all.
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