New camp site and exploring Capitol Reef

There were no bathrooms at our cool campsite, so we broke camp quickly and drove back to the picnic area to use the bathroom and make breakfast.  Bob went over to the campground and got us a campsite for tonight and then we were ready to go off and explore the park.

 Bye campsite!

 Good morning Capitol Reef.

 Andrew found an animal bone and since you aren't allowed to take anything out of the park, Andrew put it up high so no one else could take it either.

 We had visitors join us for breakfast.

 While Bob was getting the campsite, Skylar and I started walking toward the old homestead where we found horses.   We first discovered one laying on the ground - snoring.  He was very much asleep - our talking didn't wake him at all.  Finally, he woke up and snorted at us.  He didn't want us around.  Another horse came over to get a few pets and we fed him, then the sleepy horse decided he wanted some of that too.

Everyone stopped by to help us feed the 3 horses.  Later we went into the homestead house and that is when we saw the "don't feed the horses" sign.  We didn't know!!  The horses names were - Old Earl, Mud and Dillon.

After feeding the horses we went on a hike up Fremont Trail.  It was very easy in the beginning but then it quickly turned into a steep climb with a drop off on one side.  Everyone appeared calm but slowly all the fears began to eek out.

As we were coming back down the trail, Cairn was ahead of us.  All of a sudden she comes screaming back towards us.

This little fellow was the reason.  He was trying to find a good place to nap for the day.

To help Cairn calm down I found a dinosaur in the rocks.  Can you see him peeking out?

 Dad gave Andrew a pocketknife.  He loved it and he ended up carrying it for the rest of the day.

After our hike, we headed back to camp to grab some lunch, and cool down before checking out our next adventure the driving tour through the park.

Along the way we learned about how Fruita was discovered and built - there was a blacksmith shop, the mail tree where the postman would hang the mail, several homesteads and of course, the orchards.  There are 15 different orchards in the park - cherry, apricot, peach, pear, apple, plum, mulberry, almond and walnut.

We also learned about the rock formations, the waterpocket fold, and a uranium mine.  Butch Cassidy was rumored to hide out in the area and so he has an arch named after him, Cassidy Arch.

Skylar, Bob and I took a very short hike in the Grand Wash.  It was very hot and some just wanted a break from the heat for a bit.  But no one could resist the hike at Capitol Gorge.  It is very narrow with steep, towering walls.  So tall that we were constantly looking up.

 Actually, there are some petroglyphs on the wall left by the Fremont culture.  They farmed along the streams until about 1300 AD.  They were very faint but cool to see and imagine that people used to live in this area.  I don't know how they did it but they were a tough group.

 Skylar was still playing with all the soft sand...

 and Andrew had found out what the knife was for - carving or whittling.  He would stop every few minutes to find a new stick to whittle away on.

 Then Skylar would find some more sand to play with

 and Andrew would find another stick.

Bob, Cairn and I hiked back to the Pioneer Register.  This stream bed was the only road through the area until 1962.  Back when people were walking through the area they would record their names on the canyon walls.  It was interesting to see because many of the people wrote the year they walked through the gorge.  We saw some from 1881, 1901 and 1911.  Some people tried to get as high as they could, some people just wrote over other people's names.

We were going to try to hike back to The Tanks but it was just too hot plus we had lost 1/2 of our group.  We found them as we hiked back - they had stopped at a cooler crevice to play on the rocks and lizard hunt.  Dad of course, had to try to catch a lizard but Dad was too slow and all he got was the tail.

This upset Cairn because we had learned from Bob that the lizards hibernate during the winter and they store their fat in their tails.  It will take about a year to grow up but during the winter they may be a little hungry plus their tail will never be as long again.

After our hike, we headed back to camp for the evening.  Some of us went into town to get charcoal for the fire (that's all that was allowed) plus some marshmallows and cookies for smores.  The kids rode around on their bikes around camp until dinner.  We went to bed as soon as the sun went down - everyone was exhausted.

Explore and then West to Capitol Reef National Park

Everyone woke up with the sun this morning.  It was a little chilly.

We had breakfast.  Bob had brought the most delicious mangos and Skylar couldn't eat enough.

Andrew found a hole to play in.

 Cairn wasn't happy when I said I was braiding her hair today.  She constantly complained yesterday about being hot and her hair in the way.

 Finally, she was happy as she realized it was going to be helpful.

 Skylar is ready for anything.

We broke camp, went back to the Visitor Center to get our Junior Ranger badges and then hit the road.

Do you see the badges on Andrew and Skylar?  Cairn wanted to save hers in her backpack.  They passed all the questions, the rangers asked, took their oath and received their badges.  It was pretty tough work.  They really had to know their stuff.

Next stop, the Trail of Time.  If you are ever driving into Utah on I-70, this stop is worth your time.  It was a lot of fun and we learned a lot.  The trail includes an old dinosaur quarry and a paleontological trail.  

Indian Paintbruch

 Pretty flower

 Kids climbing on one of the old quarry mounds.  In the summer, archaeologists come and work in the quarry.  We didn't see any this day.

 Andrew can always find something to climb on.

 Cairn taking a break in the shade.

 Skylar being Skylar

 Another pretty flower

 A cool hole that the kids could climb through.

 I loved this rock - I don't know what type of rock it is or how it is created but I love it.  Maybe someday someone will tell me.

 Cairn was really starting to get hot.  We finally let everyone else go ahead of us and I got her distracted with learning about the different rocks we were finding.

 Off they go ahead.

 This is one of the coolest examples of desert varnish we found on this trail. 

 These were 2 of the rocks Cairn and I found on our along walk - one is slate. We found this one section that had hundreds of pieces of this broken slate.  We walked away from the section and we didn't see anymore.  It was very strange.

The other rock has a green tint to it which was also unusual.  We only found it in a couple places on the trail and it really stood out.  Cairn and I decided we needed geologists stationed along the trail to answer all of our questions or at least more signs.

 This is lichen.  One of the questions Cairn really wanted answered was - how does lichen form?  Do you know?

 Here is an example of differential erosion.

 Another pretty Indian Paintbrush.  A ranger at Colorado National Monument said that they bring in the hummingbirds - we didn't see any here.  Too hot I think.

 After a couple hour hike we headed to Utah.

 We finally made it to Capitol Reef but the campground was full so we headed outside the park to find a campsite and we found a really nice one.  We were on top of the hill and there was a river below.  We walked the river for a bit and found lots of tracks - raccoon, deer, blue heron and even a bobcat.

The boys collected firewood so we could have a campfire, then we all sat around and watched the fire and the stars come out until it was time for bed.

 We saw lots of bats, heard an owl and saw many many stars.