Capitol Reef
Even if you consider Utah’s many impressive national parks and monuments, it is difficult to rival Capitol Reef National Park’s sense of expansiveness; of broad, sweeping vistas; of a tortured, twisted, seemingly endless landscape; of limitless sky and desert rock.
While Bryce and Zion are like encapsulated little fantasy lands of colored stone and soaring cliffs, the less-visited Capitol Reef is almost like a planet unto itself. Here you get a real feel for what the earth might have been like millions of years before life appeared, when nothing existed but earth and sky.
Capitol Reef National Park is a world of spectacular colored cliffs, hidden arches, massive domes, and deep canyons. It’s a place that includes the finest elements of Bryce and Zion Canyons in a less crowded park that can offer a more relaxing experience than either of those more-famous Utah attractions.
The park preserves the 100-mile Waterpocket Fold, a mammoth buckling of the earth’s surface (“waterpocket” refers to the potholes that dot the sandstone and fill with rainwater). The park’s name combines the popular term for an uplifted landmass, “reef,” with a visual resemblance of the park’s many white Navajo Sandstone domes to that of the nation’s Capitol Building.
Geography and geology
The Waterpocket Fold was created relatively recently, at about the same time and by the same forces as the entire Colorado Plateau. A mere 65 million years ago (give or take a few millennia), when the uplift of the Colorado Plateau began, rock strata here were bent into a huge broken fold. Wind and water gradually eroded the ancient fold into the landforms and canyon systems we see today.
Sandstone dominates Capitol Reef National Park. Each rock layer tells a story about different environments that spread across ancient lands. Here are the stone remnants of winding Permian-age rivers, mudflats and swamps of the Triassic, the sandy deserts of the Jurassic, and the landlocked seas of the Cretaceous Period. Most of these rock formations date from the Mesozoic Era, the age of dinosaurs, from 230 to 65 million years ago. The dominant formations are Wingate and Navajo sandstones, which respectively form steep cliffs and rounded domes.
In some parks you really need to get away from the road to find the best scenery, but in Capritol Reef National Park there is a plentitude of beauty that can be accessed by vehicle.
Several elements also make Capitol Reef a most interesting National Park: Fruita, the Gifford House, and petroglyphs. (see blogs)
The biggest threat to this park’s future is deterioration of facilities due to the federal government’s lack of investment in capital improvements. Capitol Reef needs trail enhancements, additional parking, an upgraded and improved visitor center, and additional staff to be all that it can be.
While Bryce and Zion are like encapsulated little fantasy lands of colored stone and soaring cliffs, the less-visited Capitol Reef is almost like a planet unto itself. Here you get a real feel for what the earth might have been like millions of years before life appeared, when nothing existed but earth and sky.
Capitol Reef National Park is a world of spectacular colored cliffs, hidden arches, massive domes, and deep canyons. It’s a place that includes the finest elements of Bryce and Zion Canyons in a less crowded park that can offer a more relaxing experience than either of those more-famous Utah attractions.
The park preserves the 100-mile Waterpocket Fold, a mammoth buckling of the earth’s surface (“waterpocket” refers to the potholes that dot the sandstone and fill with rainwater). The park’s name combines the popular term for an uplifted landmass, “reef,” with a visual resemblance of the park’s many white Navajo Sandstone domes to that of the nation’s Capitol Building.
Geography and geology
The Waterpocket Fold was created relatively recently, at about the same time and by the same forces as the entire Colorado Plateau. A mere 65 million years ago (give or take a few millennia), when the uplift of the Colorado Plateau began, rock strata here were bent into a huge broken fold. Wind and water gradually eroded the ancient fold into the landforms and canyon systems we see today.
Sandstone dominates Capitol Reef National Park. Each rock layer tells a story about different environments that spread across ancient lands. Here are the stone remnants of winding Permian-age rivers, mudflats and swamps of the Triassic, the sandy deserts of the Jurassic, and the landlocked seas of the Cretaceous Period. Most of these rock formations date from the Mesozoic Era, the age of dinosaurs, from 230 to 65 million years ago. The dominant formations are Wingate and Navajo sandstones, which respectively form steep cliffs and rounded domes.
In some parks you really need to get away from the road to find the best scenery, but in Capritol Reef National Park there is a plentitude of beauty that can be accessed by vehicle.
Several elements also make Capitol Reef a most interesting National Park: Fruita, the Gifford House, and petroglyphs. (see blogs)
The biggest threat to this park’s future is deterioration of facilities due to the federal government’s lack of investment in capital improvements. Capitol Reef needs trail enhancements, additional parking, an upgraded and improved visitor center, and additional staff to be all that it can be.