|
Following the Trail of Utah's Outlaws & Indians
By Elissa Gilbert, Freelance Writer
July 2007
This was outlaw country. Butch Cassidy hid out in the rugged passes and other bandits maneuvered rustled cattle through these canyons before selling them with no questions asked in Wyoming. Mormon polygamists fled into Cohab Canyon to hide from the marshals chasing them. And even though Mormonism prohibits alcohol, a couple of
moonshiners fermented mash beneath these cliffs.
Today, a crime wave in this remote part of south-central Utah is likely
to consist of a couple of eight year olds spray painting graffiti around town, and the canyons and domes of Capitol Reef National Park are safe for visitors. The drive to the park takes you through small towns where the man who makes change for you at the gas station may be the local bishop and all there is to see are empty fields. Suddenly large black lava boulders dot the land, the remains of glaciers and water breaking up a lava flow, and crenulated red sandstone cliffs made of 14 layers of sediment in 15 different colors blockade the horizon.
Perhaps because it's so remote (224 miles from the airport in Salt Lake City), most of the towns here were settled only after 1880 and Capitol Reef is one of the least visited national parks, receiving only 1/5 as many visitors as Utah's most visited national park (Zion). Or maybe the low visitation is because the mysterious name doesn't hint at the extraordinary rock formations the park contains. Except for major holiday weekends like Memorial Day, you'll encounter only a few other visitors.
The rock formation s give the park its mysterious name. The two words in the name refer to different kinds of rock in the park. There are curved, or domed, white rock formations rounded like the dome on the Capitol building. And the red rock, in shades ranging from pink through blood red, maroon and almost purple, formed a barrier to travel called a reef.
Because of the long drive we arrived at the park around lunchtime. After stopping at the Visitor's Center and viewing their video we drove down the road to a picnic ground, where cottonwood fluff drifted in the breeze as we ate by the banks of the Fremont River. A curved wooden bridge led across the narrow stream to the Gifford farmhouse. A cliff in sunset shades of pink and peach formed the backdrop.
The picnic area is near the blacksmith shop, like the farmhouse a building left from Fruita, an old Mormon settlement. It took irrigation to coax the orchards to grow in the alkali soil, and it was a hard life (more than 1 1/2 hours by rough road to go 10 miles to the nearest town). When the park was formed most settlers were happy to sell and move, though the Gifford family stayed long enough to add a carport to their house. The Park Service maintains only a few of the town's buildings, including the one-room schoolhouse, but they still cultivate the orchards. You can make dessert of fresh-picked apricots, cherries, pears, peaches, or apples, depending on the season-- anything you eat on site is free, with a small charge for whatever you carry out.
The mid-day heat had driven a mule deer to curl up in a tiny pa tch of shade under a tree by the campground, but not being as smart as the animals we decided to hike off our lunch. Capitol Reef is full of
short hikes of varying difficulty near the visitors center; the rangers can give you a list of all the hikes. Be careful when you choose one. Most of the hikes are in-and-out trails, not loops, and the list gives the one way, not roundtrip, mileage. And be sure to carry water with you even on short, easy trails.
We chose the Grand Wash trail, a narrow sandy path between 800-foot tall cliffs. The steep cliffs are wind-scoured and pockmarked; white domes moved in and out of view as we passed small orange desert
flowers. The Wild Bunch used this trail and it's easy to picture their horses kicking up dust as they race to the hideout now called Cassidy Arch. They must have stayed to the sides as we did, seeking out small overhangs providing some shelter from the sun. We passed a group of
hikers lined up in the shade from an overhang as if they were waiting for a bus. But there are no buses here. The trail is 2.25 miles one way, and you may find it more practical, as we did, to hike 1/2 way in and back.
Another popular but more challenging hike in the footsteps of the outlaws leads you to Cohab Canyon. A steep initial climb then eases a bit as you explore side canyons. Some experts say the story about polygamists hiding out here is just a story; there's no good cover or places to hide, and the canyon walls have no campfire smoke stains.
The first people to live in this area were the Fremont Indians from about 700 to 1300A.D. , and they disappeared without leaving many
traces either. One clear trace they did leave are petroglyph outlines of humans and animals in the red rock. You can view them easily right by the main park road, where a viewing station with binoculars brings
the figures close to you. The human figures are round-headed, no-necked, with stiff-arms, like the monsters of cartoons or children's nightmares. Janae, a Utahan who told us about the juvenile graffiti
artists in her town, wondered if these were done by kids as well.
We also drove the park's scenic road; the Visitor's Center has a brochure which explains the geological highlights the route passes. The 25 mile (round-trip) drive parades past red rock formations like the Egyptian Temple to Capitol Gorge. At Capitol Gorge the road becomes unpaved and if your vehicle or feet are up to it you can explore further down the road beneath steep canyon walls. We found the reverse drive gave the most spectacular view of the reef, with miles of jagged red spires and broken roadside boulders forming, as Janae put it, an enormous 3D jigsaw puzzle.
By now the sun was beginning to hang low so we headed to Gooseneck Overlook and Sunset Point. At Gooseneck Overlook you can view Sulphur Creek Canyon where the river twists around on itself hundreds of feet below. Finding the path to the viewing platform proved tricky; rocks mark the way but it was hard to distinguish the rocks which marked the path from rocks which were just lying on the ground.
A small climb up a short hill across the parking lot brought us to Sunset Point. The sandstone cliffs unfolded before us like a pink and red fan. We sat and watched the setting sun warm the rocks, ending our visit as the color was lost to darkness.
**All photos by Elissa Gilbert
If You Go
Capitol Reef National Park
HC 70, Box 15,
Torrey, UT 84775.
Fax : 435-425-3026.
http://www.nps.gov/archive/care/campgrp.htm
- There are three campgrounds at Capitol Reef.
- The main campground at Fruita is developed with picnic tables and grills at each site, as well as water and an RV dump station.
- No reservations are taken and the nightly fee is $10.
- Group reservation can be made via fax or email only
The other two campgrounds are remote primitive campsites and the access roads require four wheel drive.
- Visit www.capitolreef.org for general information about the region. The park's official website is at www.nps.gov/care.
|
Home | Featured Articles | Around Texas | Calendar of Events | Totally Griswald | Tips | Reviews | Contact Us | Links
