Sunday was an early 5:50 start to get back to Monument Valley hopefully with some good early light and long shadows. The viewpoint I had picked out Saturday night was 60 miles from the hotel so that hour drive should have been just about right. That would also get me back heading west about my originally planned departure time for the 3 hour drive over to Torrey for an afternoon in Capitol Reef.
The day started out with lots of blue sky and great light for the drive south. Unfortunately at the viewpoint there were high clouds that had built so the light was a bit more diffuse than I hoped for but it was still a beautiful morning. I got a ton of pictures, mostly with the 40D so those won’t be available until I post process them at home. I waited a bit to see if the clouds would dissipate but that wasn’t in the cards and I needed to get back on the road. Not that I was really that disappointed with the pictures I got anyway. On the way back towards Blanding I made another stop at Mexican Hat Rock because might as well while I’m here!
Back to Blanding I made the left turn to Hwy95 which would intersect with Hwy24 for the final drive into Capitol Reef. In the past I’ve come down from Moab, so Hwy24 the whole way down from I-70. I’m so glad I took the alternate route because 95 was just incredible. This is easily the most beautiful road I’ve driven, all 120 miles from Blanding to Hanksville. If you’re in the neighborhood I highly recommend it. I was behind schedule but couldn’t resist stopping at a few places to get a closer look and more pictures.
Eventually I made it to Capitol Reef and was starving since basically all I had Saturday was a whopper jr. I figured I’d head straight to town, get lunch and checked in and then head back to the park. The drive through the park was gorgeous but by the time I was getting to the other side the weather had turned and there was heavy rain rolling through. That gave me an opportunity to nap for a bit to let the storms pass.
Around 4 I finally headed to the park to find that some areas were closed due to flash flooding so I settled on the hike to Hickman Bridge with an option to do the longer rim hike after depending on how I was feeling. This was my first time doing this hike and it didn’t disappoint with a loop that leads you around and then under the natural arch. Hiking in late afternoon was a nice change too with cooler temps and less intense sun. I started up the longer rim hike but ended up turning back about half a mile in when it started to rain. That was still far enough to get me to the overlook above Hickman Bridge though. The hike back was very quiet since it was getting late, after 6, and most people had cleared out leaving me alone on the trail except for a couple others that passed by. Capitol Reef tends to be a quieter park though which is one of the reasons I love visiting.
Back at the car I figured on going back to town to find dinner since there was rain coming back through and it looked like it would be cloudy for the sunset. About 3 miles outside the park I noticed in the mirror that the tops of all the canyon walls were lit with sun as there was a break in the clouds. I got turned around and made it back to Panorama Point quickly and was able to get a bunch of pics before the sun dropped into the clouds, a repeat performance of Saturday at Monument Valley.
Monday my plan is another early start to get back to Panorama Point for sunrise and then spend the morning hiking before heading for Bryce in the afternoon. Currently there’s a pretty good storm going outside so will have to see what kind of weather the morning brings.
The pictures… how do I even choose today?
1 comment:
Excellent! Thanks!!
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