The Other Stuff: National Parks of Utah

So many parks to choose and so little time! I wanted to just stop and go to them all...but we decided to do all the ones on the east side for now...and even that was a little ambitious...we did not get to all of them but it was not from lack of trying.

However, this might have something to do with random stops along the way. For instance, we were driving down the highway early in the morning...enjoying the scenery...when we saw this road sign...THREE times!

We just had to make the stop and I am so glad we did this as it was a great stop at our favorite essential oil company's family farm! We started with a quick walk around the outer gardens and then into the store (museum feel with oils inside the various displays). Then we found out about a wagon ride through their grounds. We jumped in the back of the wagon with another family and enjoyed seeing their event site and their exotic animals. We ended the tour with a drive by the lavender fields.

ZeboOOooo!

The camel really liked our brave leader!

Lavender fields...so calming!

Then we were back on the road to our first national park of the day...

Capitol Reef NP

The park was established in 1971 to protect the area's colorful canyons, ridges, buttes, and monoliths. Capitol Reef's rich cultural history dates to archaic hunter-gatherers, the pre-historic Fremont Culture, and pioneer homesteaders. The area was originally named "Wayne Wonderland" in the 1920s (centered in Wayne County). The park was officially renamed Capitol Reef when it became a national park to represent an especially rugged and spectacular segment of the Waterpocket Fold by the Fremont River with a line of cliffs of white Navajo Sandstone with dome formations—similar to the white domes often placed on capitol buildings.

We started out on a small trail that took us to the petroglyphs. We also discovered some wildlife that liked little girls' shoes! Also, notice the lizard on the rocks...it was willing to pose for us for some time before leaping to a rock about 5 feet away! The rock formations and the brilliantly colored flowers were so abundant it was hard to decide which one deserved more pictures!

We had the joy of taking the trail to Hickman Bridge (a naturally formed bridge that linked two formations together), which was supposedly a 2 mile loop. However, it took us a good 3 hours to travel the trail. We thoroughly enjoyed the hike, but we did not arrive back to the the visitor center to see the museum or having the children complete their junior ranger program so we were a little bummed about that.

Can you see the Nativity pictures etched out of the rock?

We also saw several sites within the park of interest. We were able to visit the historical Fruita one room school house. I imagine this school is much like our own school with all the children gathered to learn together. Teachers taught the "three-Rs" to the eight grades at the one-room school. If a teacher felt qualified and had enough textbooks, other subjects such as geography, were added. It would have been nice to send the children out to the backyard playground that the children enjoyed here!

One of the other interesting parts of this park was the fruit orchards that were still actively used today. If we had visited in the fall, we could actually walk the trails and pick a fruit to eat, which would have included peaches, apples, pecans and pears.

We truly believe that one of the joys of this trip was the journey itself...such a diverse landscape! It was beautiful with every turn of the road! I have a hard time choosing just a couple of pictures as there were really so many choices of different formations! The drive into the park and then to our hotel was amazing! Here are a few of our favorites...

The next day we were minutes from the next national park. We just one quick stop at some preserved dinosaur foot prints at a state park attached to...

A magic show at the park!

We were able to stay at the park for a ranger led nature walk. It turned out that Dominick would be our guide...he was part of an internship program. He did a great job sharing the botanical aspects of the park, especially plants along our trail to the large arches. He also mentioned several native animals associated with the park. The children really enjoyed listening to his talk and participated fully in the presentation.

At one point in the walk, Dominick asked if anyone knew the name of a little microscopic creature that could be found in the park. He even had a plush toy version to share with the group. We all looked at each other wondering what it could be...until our little guy spoke up and told us it was a "water baby!" I thought he was just making it up...he does have a good imagination! However, Dominick was glad to see he knew and he was right! I asked where he learned about this creature and he smiled and said, "Aquanauts!" I should have known...his favorite show!

Parade of the Elephants

We ended the guided portion of the hike and then we continued to the arches before heading out of the park. Another round of junior rangers for our family! So glad they enjoy working together to learn about the parks! This park was nice but not as diverse as Capitol Reef. Not to complain as the children just enjoyed climbing and imagining different objects in the various rock formations. We probably could have spent all day walking around the arches but we had hopes to make it to a different kind of park before the end of the day.

We were now off to...

Once home to over 2,500 people, Hovenweep includes six prehistoric villages built between A.D. 1200 and 1300. We arrived with a couple of hours to explore before closing. This was just the right amount of time to take the scenic loop trail around the various structures. This time we had the children complete their junior ranger experience BEFORE going on our hike. We enjoyed talking with another intern who happened to be from Texas (just north of San Antonio!). The best part of this park...our faithful dog (Hank) was finally allowed to walk the trails with us! After six days of travels, he was finally able to have more than a walk around a parking lot!

SO...we were off on the trails...it turned out to be a nice trail that got us up close and personal with the structures that blended in with the environment. We even saw a few wild creatures and enjoyed the blooms of this area as well.