Visiting Another National Park

Friday, October 11, 2024

There’s two ways we can get to our next destination. One will be new and the other is a repeat of of our travel to Ruby’s Inn. Neither has an advantage mileage wise so that’s not a factor. We chose the new route, Utah Highway 12. It will take us to new places on our way to Torrey, Utah. A bonus is the highway is a designated Scenic Byway.

We head east on the highway passing the turnoff to Kodachrome State Park. We had visited the park in the past so we kept on truckin’. We come to Tropic (486 souls), then Cannonville (186 souls), named for George Cannon, a Mormon official. These towns are located in the Paria River Valley. And then comes Henrieville (221 souls). These are primarily farming towns but appear to be sharing in the popularity of Bryce Canyon offering motel accommodations and restaurants for those visitors.

We are traveling through a portion of the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. The monument spans 1.87 million acres, encompassing five life zones from low lying desert to coniferous forests The is home to the Ancestral Puebloan and Fremont people who were experts at farming this rugged land. Their descendants include the Hopi , Ute, Zuni and Navajo tribes have strong ties to this land. The Monument’s size, resources and remote character provide extraordinary opportunities for geologists, paleontologists, arecheologists, historinians and biologists as well as quiet recreation for those just looking to enjoy nature.

Boulder Utah touts itself to be Utah’s Gateway to Quiet Recreation, whatever that is. The town sports 241 souls and lies at 6700 feet of elevation. We explore the Anasazi State Park Museum. Unfortunately the exhibit section is closed due to a remodel but the archeological site out back is open. This village was most likely occupied from A.D. 1050 to 1200 and is one of the largest communities west of the Colorado River. A life sized six room replica of an ancient dwelling shows what the ruin looked like when it was inhabited.

We continue on reaching Boulder Mountain Pass at 9606 feet in elevation- nose bleed country! We continue on, it’s all downhill from here! We travel down at least three 8% grades- 2% steeper than interstates. Our exhaust brake is up to the challenge as I only have to stab brake occasionally to keep our speed in check. The quaking Aspen at this altitude has mostly dropped all of their leaves.

We come to Torrey, still tiny at 251 souls. The town has an amazing amount of sleeping facilities and restaurant for its size. We pull into the Wonderland RV Park where we’ll stay for a few days while we explore Capitol Reef National Park. This park comes highly recommended by other travelers. It’s good for our doggos as they are free to roam in an enclosed area and walk on leash in larger turf area. We like this park for its accommodations and the wonderful attitude of its work campers.

We tootle on over to Capitol Reef National Park, about 9 miles to the east. Those Utah red bluffs are really beautiful. Utah 24 drops into a canyon where the visitors center is located. Work is being done here apparently to enlarge the parking lot. Parking is extremely limited and the center is busy! The scenic loop is also closed past the campground so that’s about as far as we’ll go on the loop. But we still have access to Giffords Homestead and the luscious pies and preserves that are sold there.

The history here is self evident with petroglyphs left by the ancients who dwelled here long ago to explorers and Mormon settlers who came here in the late 1800’s planting orchards of apples, pears, and peaches. The first resident may have been an 1879 squatter by the name of Franklin Young, but the first landholder of record was Nels Johnson. Others soon followed, and the community that sprang up became known as Junction. Mail was delivered to a central Fremont Cottonwood tree, known as the “Mail Tree,” which still stands in the picnic area today. The orchards still exist in the Fruita Rural Historic District and are harvested for their fruit. The population never exceeded 10 families.

The next day we drove all the way through the park and then some before we realized we’d gone way out of bounds. The petroglyph parking lot was packed, the Grand Wash area had about a bizillion vehicles parked along the highway. Even this relatively remote and less popular National Park is just jammed with visitors.

Zion National Park

Speaking of jammed a fellow traveler had just come from Zion National Park- our next destination. She said that they couldn’t find a place to park at 0600 hours! So we changed our plan to visit Zion, cancelling stays at two RV parks. We even shortened our stay here at Wonderland RV Park by a day. I included a photo of Zion NP from the internet as a reminder of just how beautiful that place is.

As I walked behind the motorhome I noticed the tailpipe is hanging at a funny angle. I poke it with my foot and it swings almost freely. It should be very solid feeling. Gads….. I slide under a take a look- the tailpipes is rusted clean through at the muffler. I don’t have anything but electrical wire to secure it and tomorrow is Sunday- good luck finding a hardware store open in nearby Loa or Bicknell. So I strip all the insulation off the wire so it won’t smoke when it gets hot, wrap it around the exhaust and hang on the bottom of the rear compartment using a screw and fender washer. I think that will last until we reach our next destination.

That’s pretty much a wrap fro Torrey and Capitol Reef National Park. See you down the road!