Capitol Reef National Park

We had another beautiful day at Capitol Reef. There was rain in the forecast, but we did not see it until we were driving back to our campground. We soon learned why we had never visited this national park before. It is way out in the middle of nowhere. It had some interesting colored rocks and a lot of history around the area, but I'm not sure we will ever go back unless we happen to be passing through(not likely since, like I said, it is out in the middle of nowhere). Our first stop was the visitors center to pick up the junior ranger packets. They kids all had to sit in this black rock because it had a big indentation in the top of it. They called it the potty rock.

Our plan was to take a hike down this canyon that was supposed to have petroglyphs. Ashley had just done a report on Carbon County and learned all about petroglyphs left by the Freemont people, so we wanted to show them to her in person. However, we had to stop for a bathroom break before we attempted the hike. We got sidetracked to this area with some fun climbing rocks.

 After we all climbed up the big rocks and back down, Tyler and Camden making us nervous the entire time, we headed to the trail head. The canyon walls were pretty impressive. Not only were there rock pictures left by the Freemont people, but there were also names printed on the rocks left by pioneers who traveled through the canyon on their way west.

The hike was a little over 2 miles round trip, but the kids did really well. We did have to carry Camden for a bit and we wished that we had brought the hiking backpack, but we all survived.

 Alyssa is our climber and she climbed up any rock that looked interesting.

 They called these swiss cheese rocks.

 I loved the tiger striped ones.

And finally, the rock art. There are some people drawn at the bottom of the darker striped section. It is kind of hard to see them, but Ashley loved it.

We headed out just in time to miss the storm, headed back to our campsite, hooked up our trailer, and drove all the way home in the rain. We were sure glad it didn't hit while we were in the canyon. The kids all earned their junior ranger badges in both Capitol Reef and Bryce Canyon. Now they have badges for Bryce, Capitol Reef, the Grand Canyon, Glacier, Yellowstone, and Craters of the Moon.