More Awesome Views

Snow Covered Mountains
Capitol Dome
Nanc standing on Cassidy Arch
The Castle
Capitol Gorge Waterpocket Fold
Orchards in Fruita along the Fremont River.

Gifford Farmhouse in Fruita

We are now at the Thousand Trails RV Park in Torrey, Utah near Capitol Reef National Park. This campground offers a couple of unique services with a nightly dinner in the pavilion and the sale of homemade bread baked by a local man in an outdoor brick oven. We took advantage of both. After we set a personal record of not dining out for eleven days in a row we found a great restaurant in tiny Torrey, Cafe Diablo, where we had a wonderful gourmet meal. On the drive here we crossed a pass at nearly 8400 feet and drove through some snow. During the first day we watched it snow in the high mountains overlooking the valley. While it did not snow in the campground it was ten degrees cooler there then it was in Capitol Reef which is at 5400 feet in elevation. I said earlier that we have been following Spring weather and it really shows here with the trees in the park having all their leaves while in Torrey the leaves on many trees are not yet out. The name Capitol Reef comes from the reef like Waterpocket Fold, a 100 mile wrinkle in the Earth's crust, that runs through the park and the large domes that reminded early settlers of the US Capitol Building. The erosion of the fold has created spectacular colorful cliffs and rock formations which can be seen on a ten mile drive or by the many hiking trails. Also preserved in the park is the Mormon settlement of Fruita where they planted orchards along the Fremont River. The orchards are still maintained by the park service and when the fruit ripens anyone is allowed to pick it. This park, while one of the least visited, offers a great variety of things to see and do.