Capitol Reef National Park: the Grand Wash and the Capitol Dome
On day 3 of our mini-vacation we visited Capitol Reef National Park. It’s located just 2 hours and 120 miles north from Bryce Canyon National Park, so we thought, let’s go!
We drove in first thing in the morning, while it was still snowing on the distant mountains and very cold in the valley …
These rocks, on the drive into the park, are between 200-245 million years old …
Though we have been to Capitol Reef National Park before, we hadn’t yet driven the Scenic Drive, as flash flooding had closed the road on our previous visit … and it was not to be this time, either!
Hahaha — the National Park Service knew we were coming on May 14th …
We did go up to the Grand Wash, where we saw the effects of the prior flash flood waters in the washes …
We also drove a bit through the historic site, Fruita, where Mormon’s settled in the 1870s and planted orchards that are still maintained by the National Park Service today …
This park gets its name — Capitol Reef — from two distinct geological features. The first, capitol, is for the white domes of Navajo Sandstone that reminded early settlers of the capitol building domes in Washington DC. This is that landmark, the Capitol Dome …
The second part of the name, reef, comes from the Waterpocket Fold, a 100-mile long warp or wrinkle in the earth's crust; it’s a classic monocline, or "step-up" in the rock layers. For early settllers, these rocky cliffs were are a barrier to travel, like an ocean reef. So there you have the name: Capitol Reef.
All in all, glad we came here. Maybe someday we’ll get to see the entire 8 mile long scenic drive! :)