Abbey's Road

On Tuesday morning, after leaving Moab, I drove to Capitol Reef NP. It’s the least known, and least visited, of Utah’s National Parks. It’s not all that big and only has a handful of hiking trails, but it is another interesting place for geological formations. We made a short stop there and did a scenic drive before continuing south. This part of Utah is pretty sparse and the towns are barely a blip on the map, but the scenery is pretty cool.
After leaving Capitol Reef I picked up Hwy. 12 which heads south over Boulder Mt. and then goes through more of canyon country sometimes winding along ridges only 2-3 times as wide as the road. The landscape is pretty desolate with sandstone everywhere. Unfortunately, it was getting late and I should’ve stopped for the night in Capitol Reef. The few small campgrounds I found were all full so I pulled off in a sand and gravel clearing on top of Hwy. 12. I kept waiting for someone to come along and tell me I couldn’t stay, but no one did. I left early just in case, but not before watching the sunrise over the desert. We hiked a few trails that day, both to waterfalls – Upper and Lower Calf Creek Falls. It was pretty hard to believe that not only would there be waterfalls in this desolate, barren landscape, but one of them was over a 100 ft. high. Abbey again had fun in the water and this time she even had some fish to chase.

After the troubles of the night before, I started looking for a campground earlier. I got one of the last spots in Kodachrome Basin State Park. I was surprised but Abbey was up for another walk. We didn’t go far, though, because it was pretty warm. This park is known for its “sand pipes” or spires. The theory is that millions of years ago this area used to be active with geysers and hot springs. When the geysers and springs dried up, their spouts filled with sand, or liquefied sand, which hardened over time. The surrounding sandstone was softer and was eroded away over time leaving the spires. They were interesting enough for the hike we took in the morning, though they probably won’t really impress you in pictures. It was a good hike to tire Abbey out with since I was heading to Bryce Canyon afterwards. As usual for the NPs, she’s not allowed on the trails there. Well, I’ll leave Bryce for another day. That’s all for now.