capitol reef

“It’s just a bunch of rocks.” That is what I heard a couple of times the day before I packed the three oldest, out of four, into the Jeep and drove south for what has become our annual sometime-in-spring-trip, or trips, to Capitol Reef. This year it was a little early. The itinerary is...

Halls Creek Narrows: Another place I’d got all planned to visit until storms stopped the plan a few years back. But this time good weather was forecast and I had good company in the shape of Jack, Paul and Steve. After much debate over whether to use the shortcut route, we opted for the...

Back in October I had enough time to do an overnight trip in Capitol Reef. Lower Spring Canyon seemed like a good choice for the time that I had. So I headed down with two family members. We did get a late start but it still worked out good for us. We started at the Chimney Rock trail head...

I've spent most of fall this year running around Utah riding my mountain bike. Not because I'm hugely into mountain biking - yes, it is fun, but more so because my side job of writing trail guides has expanded into also writing up some mountain biking trails around the state. 70 of them to be...

So there I was, cruising south on Highway 6 in the LED spaceship, about 30 miles south of Wellington. After my last solo trip I decided to get back on the podcast bandwagon and I was totally entertained by season 1 of Serial. But a nagging thought kept popping to the foreground. I do not want to...

Meek's Mesa 3/16- I am pretty sure this is not a regular destination in itself that is high on many people's lists, and if it is someone's secret place then they most likely stumbled upon it from a trip to Pandora's box. I have not done Pandora's box, but I was looking for a quick and yet off...

January 29 - 30, 2016 I had been itching to do an overnighter in the desert since late November, and it worked out that some friends and I would go the day after my birthday. Spring Canyon in Capitol Reef was the destination. My wife and I had planned on doing this one last Memorial Day...

Growing up, there was a kid in the neighborhood. Friend isn’t the right word, but someone I knew. This kid Brody was always pushing boundaries and going places I didn’t dare. He was around a few times when a group of us were playing night games, or catching pollywogs at the pond. Every time...

This is my first Trip Report here on Backcountry Post. I thought it was time to try to give a little back, since a majority places I visited stemmed from all the excellent TRs on this awesome site. For some years now I have had a yearly tradition to travel around the Southwest with my best...

With a world of places to explore, it takes some convincing for me to revisit trails I've hiked before. Some places, though, are worth the time for a return trip. Such as the sublime Upper Muley Twist in Capitol Reef. My brother had never been to the park, let alone the seriously awesome south...

This road connects Goblin Valley with Factory Butte/North Caineville Reef on dirt. Sometimes it is called Wild Horse Road. As far as I know not that often traveled by people from outside the region. We heard about, have experienced some difficulties making it not always feasible to use it. This...

I have had my eye on this one for years and finally decided to hit it, so I took one of my 3 Aggies with me and we bagged it. A very pretty canyon with great anchors at every rap. However, be sure you are OK with some significant exposure before going because this route has it. This route has...

I finished my Zion to Capitol Reef Hike back in May. After completing the "Flood Video" I got sidetracked and didn't get a chance to do a full trip report... until now. I'll give you guys a trip overview here and include the "short" video. But, if you have the time and want to dig deeper, check...

I'm finally back to my computer and getting a chance to assemble some of my photos/video from my recent Zion to Capitol Reef Hike. The full trip report is still in process, but I went ahead and put together a stand-alone video for Day 18 -- the day I went through Halls Creek Narrows during an...

North Caineville Reef Road runs from Caineville Wash ( 12S 0497687 4246488) along North Caineville Reef to the Factory Butte area. As far as I know some people don't like it for its dull gray colors hostile at a first glance. More than 10 years ago we saw the area from the east side, but...

Don't call it a trip report! Here come some pictures from Caineville Reef along the UT 24 west of Caineville: Northern part of Caineville Reef Southern end near UT 24 Even if it looks different - there is life Interesting cliff with inevitable power lines more from Caineville Reef...

Hartnet Road is one of two roads from UT 24 into Cathedral Valley. We startet at Cathedral Valley. Not that much to say, except a mix of pictures from 2011 and 2013 but this might be interesting: In 2011 we discovered a connencting trail to Caineville Wash Road. Unnamed, as far as we know. We...

In May 2013 we visited the Caineville area, but had no concept what to see. We left UT 24 for Caineville Wash Road and suddenly there was a spur going away from the road. After a short distance there was some pavement in the middle of the Caineville Wash Valley. A Road? I doubt! Length of...

Every now and then, one can be fortunate to find themselves hiking a route that offers breathtaking and beautiful scenery just about every single step of the journey. This proved to be just such a route. Background: When I was dating my wife, her family introduced me to Wayne County, UT and...

This is a fun 3 day backpack I did last April. It includes both Upper and Lower Spring Canyon, Grand Wash, the Frying Pan Trail, and the Sulphur Creek Route. I started and ended at Holt Draw. The last few miles up Sulphur Creek were outside the park boundary. I did not take many pictures...