Day 7: Salt Lake City / Capital Reef National Park
This was to be a travel day; mostly. But before we left SLC, I had to go stick my toes in the Salt Lake, just like my mom and I did, some 37 years ago. I don’t remember much about the moment, other than it was during a lightening storm and yet we stayed in the water like two standing electrical conduits! Gotta love my mama! 🤣 I also remember millions of brine shrimp swimming around our feet. I wanted to go float in the lake, like my mom did, however when we got there, the smell was something indescribable and the blanket of brine flies ended up squashing that dream. I was okay with that.
We got moving with a nice breakfast at Penny Ann’s Cafe (PAC), “Home Of The Heavenly Hot Cakes”; they did not disappoint! Hot cakes with my hot cake. Even the coffee was good, which is rare in a diner type setting.
Our start on the day was late, but we eventually made it on the road for the 4 hour journey to Capitol Reef National Park.
📍Capitol Reef National Park: For hundreds of years, ethnohistoric nomadic groups such as the Ute, Paiute, and Navajo inhabited the area seasonally. Today, thirty-two tribes have an ongoing association with Capitol Reef through current and/or historical traditional uses.
Side Note: Capitol Reef National Park is in Utah’s south-central desert. It surrounds a long wrinkle in the earth known as the Waterpocket Fold, with layers of golden sandstone, canyons and striking rock formations. Among the park’s sights are the Chimney Rock pillar, the Hickman Bridge arch, and Capitol Reef, known for its white sandstone domes. In the north are the towering monoliths of Cathedral Valley.
Capital Reef is also one of the lesser known parks, and so if you’re looking for less crowds, go here! It’s not as popular as say Zion or Bryce, but equally stunning in landscape and hiking adventures.
So, funny side story, we saw a couple on the side of the road hitchhiking, obviously hikers, so we picked them up. They had gone on a long hike, and part of the hikes instructions was to “hitch a ride” back to the parking lot once they hit Highway 24 (we had read about that in our travel book), so we gave them a lift. It was a hot day, so we didn’t want to leave them out there. Nothing like picking up randoms during a global pandemic eh? In a scramble to throw all our road trip snacks and garbage into the back of the car so they had a place to sit, I was so excited about picking them up, that I left the back hatch open, and well, when you drive away with the hatch open, all your crap goes flying out onto the highway. Omg!! Everyone jumped out and shoved it all back in the car, and away we went; mortified but laughing!! Anyway, they were a nice couple, they had been visiting family in Texas and now road-tripping back to their home in Oregon. They were extremely grateful. For some reason, it’s been on my bucket-list to “Pick Up A Hitchhiker”, so there we have it. Tick ✅.
We made it to the Visitor Center, said goodbye to our new friends and picked up a few odds and ends. Also a stamp for my National Parks passport and headed to the Hickmans Bridge Trailhead, well so we thought. We ended up on the “Scenic Drive” route for several miles before realizing we went the wrong way, but it was worth the mistake! The landscape on the Scenic Drive is unbelievable!
We finally found the Hickmans Bridge trailhead (off Highway 24), and began our 2 mile roundtrip hike. This hike consisted of switchbacks headed up and over a small ridge and then into a valley. We skirted around large boulders and cacti that you definitely wouldn’t want to lose your balance and fall into (just saying). There were some rocky scrambles, but overall a fun hike that kept things interesting! We made it to the incredible arch, listened to our voices echo in the canyon, took photos and then headed back. By this time it was about 645pm and 85 degrees. Late afternoon ended up being the perfect time of day for this hike since most of the trail was shaded. In the mid afternoon it would’ve been full sun. Eek!
Once back to the car it was about time to get back on the road for the 2.5 hours car journey to Moab. During these long car trips, we live off beef jerky, babybels and triscuits. We are also so very thankful to Anna and Bob who sent us on our way from Idaho with an awesome road-trip snack pack, which included two well caffeinated cold brews!
This drive was in complete darkness, except for the nearly full moon lighting our way and no town in sight. As I drove, I just kept thinking we were driving through UFO abduction country. Who would ever know if we simply vanished. Eek! Long drives create the perfect environment for your imagination to run wild.
We arrived in Moab at 10pm, checked in and rested our brains and bodies! Whew!
Bedtime: 2:30am, wired after the drive? Perhaps, but we had fun watching reruns of Seinfeld, the greatest show about nothing ever!
Byrds On A Wire 