I did not expect too much from the “Capitol Reef National Park”, while it was mentioned in the flyer, that the colors are beautiful, I kind of thought I have seen many nice places in the past days, this cannot top it. It kind of did.
However my first encounter, when I was inside the national park, was with Dave and his wife. Two hikers where standing on the side of the street and hoped for a ride. As they looked quite normal and quite obviously a bit like exhausted hikers, I decided to pick them up – something I normally don’t do. But this is kind of a place to meet nice people only. They where quite relieved, that the trip back to their car was now in save hands. It really was another 7 miles / 11 km, so it would have taken them quite a bit of time and it certainly would have not be that much of fun. The three of us had a pleasant drive and while chatting a bit, the amazing scenery started to get better and better. After unloading the couple, checking with the visitor center and organizing a hotel, it was finally my turn to enjoy the view.
And what a great view – and all of it in full color. No black and white mountains as in some other places. To get oriented a bit in the park, I decided to do the scenic drive. There was anyway not too much time left until sunset, just about 2.5 hours. It was the right decision. The images I could take hardly represent the scenery as it really presented itself. And it got better after every turn of the road.
As the national park map mentions a “sunset spot”, I of course scheduled to be there by the time the sun was about to go down. A very nice and quite, remote place with a great view.
