Weekend at...Capitol Reef

We have a friend in our ward who is a high school geology teacher and one Sunday he was telling me about Capitol Reef National Park and the beautiful rock formations and geology there. He said our families should go visit it together sometime. I heartily agreed. I'd never been and I like going to see new places, especially if there's some hiking involved. I didn't know if it would actually happen (how many times do you talk about going on trips with people and it's just talk??), but it did!! I was pleased :)

First at the park we visited Hickman Bridge, a huge natural rock bridge. It was about a mile hike to get there. There were a couple other very cool rock bridges on the way there as well. S loved playing in the sand on the trail.

Hickman Bridge--trust me, it's huge

Our group on the last leg of the hike back from Hickman
Bridge. S fell asleep as I was carrying her and we both
got super sweaty.

We were all pretty hot and tired after the hike. So, in the park there are lots of orchards, I think mostly apple, where you can pick your own fruit, eat as much as you'd like while you're there, and pay for what you take with you. The orchard where we stopped had lots of wormy apples, but we still found a few good ones. I've always wanted to pick my own fruit at a place like that.

Nathan brought our nice camera and had fun taking lots of pictures. Here are a few:

This is my all-time favorite of the ones he took.
It's of Castle rock. I love the vibrant
colors, the blossoming sagebrush in the foreground, and
the blue sky!

On Sunday we went to church in Bicknell, then visited the Goosenecks and the petroglyphs in the park. The Goosenecks refer to the winding river at the bottom of the mini-Grand Canyon. It definitely reminded me of the Grand Canyon--so beautiful!

Me and my sweetie pie

Goosenecks

A fun black-and-white Nathan took near the Goosenecks

Anyway, we had a great trip. We even managed to see the amazing end of the BYU/Nebraska football game--WOW, is all I can say about that. It was fun getting to know our friends better and seeing more of the breathtaking beauty of the red rock country of southern Utah. I loved it. The only national park I haven't been to in Utah now is Canyonlands! Maybe next summer...:)