Sharing some photos from our action packed 3 days in Southern Utah, focusing around the Capitol Reef area. This park gets little love, because it is overshadowed by Zion, Bryce Canyon, and Arches. Because of this, the crowds are low, which is great if that’s your thing. We had a fantastic time, the weather was cool and dry (for the most part). I had just gotten a drone around Christmas last year and was excited to fly it in the desert. Unfortunately the storm moving in brought crazy winds for the first two days, so there was very little of that. With that being my only complaint, I’d say we did alright.

We stayed at Capitol Reef Resort. It had incredible views, hot tub, Conestoga wagons, and teepees if you so chose. We opted for a regular-arse room with a cliff view. The first night, we got there just in time to hit the hot tub and go to bed.

DAY 1

The hotel was about 10 minutes from the park. He headed out in the morning and went to our first stop, Hickman Bridge Trail. Nice easy trail with some cool views. This was my youngest son’s (3 y/o) first full hike outside the carrier and he did great.

This is the bridge, pictures don’t really do it justice. It was huge, and probably 100 feet tall.

Found an antelope squirrel hanging out under the bridge. Besides deer and elk on one evening drive, this was the only wildlife we saw the whole trip.

Lots of cacti in bloom everywhere we went.

Next, we kept cruising down the main park road (UT 24) until we got to our first dirt road of the trip. Coal Mine Road has access to a few interesting sights, and is a flat, easy drive. You can see Factory Butte the whole way down the road. Our first stop was not too far after turning on. It doesn’t have a name and isn’t a marked location or trail, but this was high on the list of the coolest things we did. The fact that few people know about it certainly adds to the allure. It’s a usually dry wash, but there were a few little pools of water. When you first climb down, it doesn’t look like much, but quickly becomes surreal.

You can go a bit further, but this pool was deep enough that we didn’t want to get wet, so it was our turn around point. Because the wash blocked the wind, I was able to fly my drone for a minute.

After walking back, we drove to the Moonscape Overlook. It’s another dirt road off of Coal Mine. The turn is pretty much right across from the middle of Factory Butte.

This place is insane! Before you get close to the edge, you feel like you are just on regular flat ground. But then you realize you are on a 1,000 foot cliff.

After exploring the edges for a few minutes, we drove back down towards Factory Butte, then went on the road that leads to it to get a closer look.

Went back to home base, got some lunch, then headed out again about few hours before sunset to the next stop: Bentonite Hills. It’s accessed by a dirt road, Hartnett Road, which was our favorite of all the dirt we rode on. Right in the beginning, there is a short but fun water crossing. Here is a video from when we headed back for the night. In addition to that, there are beautiful views every stretch of the way.

There is a small sign for the hills and a few spots to pull over and park. We got out and went exploring. The best time to be there is when the light is low, sunrise or sunset. We were a little early for sunset, but because it is lower than the road, some of it was already in the shadows. You can see the difference in the colors. In the shadows, you get more blues/greens/purples to come out. Beautiful either way.

This might look like animal poop, but it’s actually black boulders that are about 10 feet wide.

We walked around for 20ish minutes, then got started back on the drive home. One thing I love about out-and-back trails is that you get a chance to see things you missed in the opposite direction. Like this… One of my favorite photos from the trip.