Land of Lack-O-News Brims with Wonder

Picking up where I left off, easing on down the road from the massive uplift of San Raphael Swell to Capitol Reef’s canyons and thrones...

If God truly exists, there’s a good chance he resides in Capitol Reef. It just fits—then again, so does Zion, Bryce, Canyonlands, and pretty much anywhere one wanders in Utah. It’s just a freaking astonishing state. Bobbie and I are fortunate and thankful that it’s only a stone’s throw from Lovely Ouray, way down in southwest Colorado.

From the darkness of Hanksville to the luminescence of Capitol Reef is, metaphorically speaking, day and night. For the Mormon pioneers who chose to claim this Godforsaken alkaline-white adobe bottomland as their “Zion,” you have my deepest sympathy. If only you would have pushed on another 30 miles. Man-oh-man, what a difference. 

Snaking through the depths of a slender canyon alongside the Fremont River, autumnal cottonwood leaves ablaze in cadmium yellows, it’s easy to understand why Mormon pioneers called it good and settled here. 

Now, let me show you around our boondock  camp.  Not bad, eh, right on the Park’s border. 

The only fault I can find with boondocks in Nowhere, Utah, is the pathetic lack of Verizon. We had, and still have for that matter, a signal strength of 1x…about enough to call 911, not enough for internet blog post updates, though emails upload given enough time. Thus, we are left to internet bakeries, malt shops, restaurants, and free wi-fi at visitor’s centers, most of which are just as pathetically slow. Oh well, less time to waste on surfing vast wastelands of bad news. 

Our first hike was on the Fremont Gorge Overlook Trail, a whopping 5 miles with a thousand feet of elevation gain ☺.

It went something like this…

Enough to work up an appetite for three of those cute, but pricey little pies sold next door to the campground; apple, pumpkin, and a mixed berry. 

Peace out,

Mark and Bobbie, 
on the road in Utah.  

The house of pies....