Day 34 - More Capitol Reef

We had a hard night last night with the wind roaring and rocking the camper.  We didn’t sleep great, so we didn’t start as early as we meant to, but it worked out ok.  We were hiking Chimney Rock Trail by 9:10.  It is a 3 ½ mi round trip strenuous hike with an 850 ft gain in elevation.  The views were amazing.  The rocks are stunning and huge.  Carmen was struggling a bit at the end.  The last mile was hot and hilly, but we made it!  Lots of good pictures from this hike.

Then we ate and rested at “our” picnic area.  Carmen and I walked to the Gifford Farmhouse again and picked up some ice cream for her and Audra.  The orchard is everywhere, but we are too late for cherries and too early for apricots.  Maybe we’ll hit the orchards right in the northeast.  The Gifford House was an actual home for three different families starting in the early 1900’s.  It is part museum, part store.

Then we visited the Ripple Rock Nature Center.  This was a big hit with the girls.  There were tons of activities and toys.  We ended up staying there for a couple of hours.  They made postcards and wool rag dolls and plaster casts of real animal footprints.  We had to drag them away and tonight, as I tucked her in, Carmen asked if we were going back tomorrow!

We visited the Fruita schoolhouse that was used from the late 1800’s to about 1940.  Fruita  was a Mormon settlement that was first called Junction and then changed to Fruita after one family planted an orchard.  There were never more than 10 families living here at one time, but it was an enduring community.

After this, we drove to an area that has petroglyphs right off the main road.  These are from the Fremont Indians who were the ancestors of some of the more modern Native Americans, the Hopi and ooh I forgot the other one.  These drawings are about 1000 years old.

Then we were done.  Back to the windy campground.  We ate on the porch of the gift shop because it is protected from the wind.  We don’t want to turn our bed into the dinette for a 15 minute meal.  The porch worked fine.  They are saying that the wind will die down tonight after midnight.  I’ll believe it when I see it.  (Have I said that before?)  We are sleeping in tomorrow and have extended our stay here yet another night (planning to leave Friday) so that we can rest up a bit tomorrow and then finish Capitol Reef on Thursday.  Happy travels!

More Capitol Reef