Tuesday 8 April 2014
We contemplated going to so many places: Zion National Park, Canyonlands National Park (Needles District to hike the Joint Trail), San Rafael Swell...but in the end...we chose CAPITOL REEF NATIONAL PARK!!!
This park is just three hours away! We grabbed a campsite and ate lunch and then headed for the Chimney Rock Trail. Spectacular views--especially when we got up high! We could see Thousand Lake Mountain in the west and the Henry Mountains toward the east. We only saw one other couple on the trail headed the opposite direction. It was great to get back to the red dirt and everything we own got baptized in it--hence, my new nickname, Red Dirt Girl. The Chimney Rock Trail was 3.5 miles round trip loop and we loved every step of it!
Next we hiked the Fremont River Walk Trail (proper name?). It was flat at the beginning as we strolled past old cottonwoods and the historic fruit orchards managed by the National Park Service. Then the trail began to climb (and climb) until we finally reached the summit where we congratulated each other with a kiss (or two). We had the whole trail all to ourselves the whole entire time. This added another 3 miles to our hiking day for a total of 6+! So happy!
We had to get cooking back at camp so K fired up his charcoal volcano. A man from the Netherlands was watching us out the window of his "camper car" and shot right over to ask what we were doing! He had never seen such a thing. He came back over a couple more times to ask questions and talk about their four week journey from Chicago to San Francisco, "Big country! BIG COUNTRY! Driving, driving, driving!" They were headed to Las Vegas next. The fajitas were DIVINE!
I photographed the tent because this family pitched theirs about five feet away from ours. We were perplexed because there was quite a huge lawn area over by their picnic table and yet, they set up RIGHT NEXT DOOR to us! ??? My first thought was, "I hope they don't mind my snoring." They were a cute family with four lovely children named Simon, Rueben, Phineas, and Clementine. They sang songs before bed (Happy Birthday and Rudolph, the Red Nosed Reindeer) and upon waking (Frere Jacques and I Love You, You Love Me). Our camp site was only $10 with flush toilets and running water, trash dumpsters, and other amenities--SO CHEAP! You should GO! Ah, Spring Break!
No comments:
Post a Comment