Capital Reef day 1

We had a leisurely morning at our Airbnb then packed up all fresh and clean. It was about 3 hours to Capital Reef NP. We went to the visitor center and found that we were in the Fruita area. This area is an area where all of the mountains focus together in that area and the water runs there making the area very fertile and where crops grow easily. It looks very weird after being surrounded by nothing but rock and not seeing much grow at all. An Indian group lived here and had set up an gravity irrigation system. This was followed by 10 Mormon families. They planted a lot of orchards and grew about a dozen different fruits along with some vegetables. They had a school and managed to live here for about 30 years. Eventually they all sold their property to the N P service with the last house being sold in 1969. The orchards are now owned and managed by the NP service and they open certain orchards to the public. If you eat the fruit there it doesn't cost anything. If you take it with you you are to use the honor system and pay $2.00 a pound. We got two apples and two peaches for our pound. Next to orchard was a very nice picnic area.

We did a 4 mile hike (879 ft elevation chg) near there where we played on the rocks and explored some small canyons. Next we drove the scenic road.

For dinner, we headed into town where we ate at the Rim Rock Restaurant. Jeff had a plate with bison sausage, grouse and trout. Eileen had ribs. Eileen ordered an Irish coffee which was delivered as a cup of black coffee, a shot of Jack Daniels, and several creamers.

Next stop was the Singletree Campground. It is in the Dixie National Forest. Lots of pine trees in the area although the campsites were fairly open.Read more