It's just a bunch of Rocks...

Ugly

Life really is better Here
.
Joined
Apr 20, 2013
Messages
1,300
Capitol Reef 3-180418- proc.jpg

“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 simple, this time even more simple because Fruita is online reservation (for good and bad), but good this time because I could leave on a Friday afternoon when the kids got out of school and not have to worry about getting a campsite before dark.

We drive down, listening to the odd, but normal, music mix.

This time it was Lord Huron, Lake Street Dive (mine), the Hamilton soundtrack and George Ezra (both my daughter), and a zombie musical thing from Disney.

The itinerary is simple.
We arrive. We camp. Take a drive in the morning and do some short hikes. Then pack a lunch and head up one of a few longer trails, find a canyon with no one around, and a bunch of rocks. I turn the kids loose for as long as they want to climb and play.

Sure, we could go somewhere else, and we have. On other trips we have tacked on extra side trips… Calf creek, or the Circle Cliffs, or some of the Swell, but the kids asked for no such thing this year. They just wanted to go and play on a few trails we have previously visited.

I obliged.

I started spending time trying to prove that statement wrong. “It’s just a bunch of…”
Capitol Reef 3-180064-proc_1.jpg

Capitol Reef 3-180198_1.jpg
Capitol Reef 3-180223.jpg

Capitol Reef 3-180305.jpg

Capitol Reef 3-180527-bw.jpg

The desert in winter, even late winter without snow is a wondrous place. It really is simple. Not like spring when all of a sudden more is added to the mix. When there are budding trees, bushes, grasses growing, wildflowers, more wildlife about, and warm sun that starts to feel hot.

Who would want any of that?:p

Keep it simple.
Rock.
Sand.
Sky.
Clouds.

I liked how the ground and clouds seemed to mimic each other.
Capitol Reef 3-180277-proc.jpg

Capitol Reef 3-180415-bw.jpg

Then you actually look around. The truth is all of the rock layers, folded, pushed up, broken and tossed around you. There is almost too much to take in. It is not simple.
Capitol Reef 3-180316.jpg

Capitol Reef 3-180425.jpg

Capitol Reef 3-180753.jpg

I was struggling to prove them wrong at this point…

What about the pinyon and juniper forest? Mormon tea?
Capitol Reef 3-180382.jpg
Capitol Reef 3-180384-proc.jpg
Capitol Reef 3-180345-proc.jpg

Orange rocks. My youngest son will never live this one down. A few years ago he said “Look at the orange rock!” His brother and sister still shout that out the window as we drive, while hiking up high on the fold, Or sitting around the fire. All in good natured fun of course.
Capitol Reef 3-180362-proc.jpg

Capitol Reef 3-180371.jpg

The other joke is always about the slants and nothing being straight.
Capitol Reef 3-180369-proc.jpg
Capitol Reef 3-180453-proc.jpg

The End Wall- Frying Pan-bw.jpg

Sometimes there is just something to feeling the varying layers of stone with your fingers. Eons of pressure and change graze against your skin.
Capitol Reef 3-180533-proc.jpg
Capitol Reef 3-180499-proc.jpg

Capitol Reef 3-180539-proc.jpg

Then late Sunday afternoon, I began feeling the pains of hunger, while sitting in a sunny nook on a rock, overlooking Fruita and parts of the fold below. The only noise was my kids climbing and jumping off rocks fifty yards away. Not fighting (as is one of the rules in the desert).

I came back to the phrase. I looked out beyond and below me. I looked to my right and left.
Capitol Reef 3-180785-proc.jpg

I looked up above me, and then looked down at my feet and saw this.
Capitol Reef 3-180803.jpg

I guess they were right.
Capitol Reef 3-180536-proc.jpg

It is just a bunch of rocks.
 

Attachments

  • Capitol Reef 3-180394.jpg
    Capitol Reef 3-180394.jpg
    146.7 KB · Views: 11
Hahahahahaha, I love the snark in the TR.
Capitol Reef is such a good spot for this. We've done something similar with our kids but only a few times as it is a 12 hr+ drive for us.
 
Last edited:
Hahahahahaha, I love the snark in the TR.
Capitol Reef is such a good spot for this. We've done something similar with our kids but only a few times as it is a 12 hr+ drive for us.

Ha, ha, yes a little snarky. :) Probably too many photos too, but Sunday it was snowing here, so I had time.
I know about everyone here understands the desert, but to hear a couple people say the same thing before my third trip this winter helped me realize some people just do not get it... and honestly, I am fine with that.

My kids get it, and love both the desert and the mountains. Thank heavens.
 
Ha, ha, yes a little snarky. :) Probably too many photos too, but Sunday it was snowing here, so I had time.
I know about everyone here understands the desert, but to hear a couple people say the same thing before my third trip this winter helped me realize some people just do not get it... and honestly, I am fine with that.

My kids get it, and love both the desert and the mountains. Thank heavens.

My wife is getting it (slowly... she is a coastal NW girl who loves trees and green) and my kids, well, they love both.
Me, I'm a desert rat.
 
My wife is getting it (slowly... she is a coastal NW girl who loves trees and green) and my kids, well, they love both.
Me, I'm a desert rat.

Well, luckily this time it was not my wife I quoted.
Although earlier this month my wife did say "What? Glacier in June. Not going to happen..." (I still may go with my sister if I can get time off work)

Loved the write up! And loved the lovely pictures of the lovely little canyons in a lovely, long park.

Yes it is Will. It is fantastic you have the chance to be there and thereabouts so often.

I could use this advice right now overwhelming myself with trip planning....Wisdom, your words

Haha, the wilderness is wise. I am just a fool in the wilderness. ;)
 
Ha, ha, yes a little snarky.
If it means anything to you, I thought your write up was more poetic than snark.
Writing that connects the end to the beginning, weaving in everything in between
is highly satisfying.

Probably too many photos too
In the cathedral of BCP, there is no greater blasphemy. Please eliminate such thinking. ;)
.
 
If it means anything to you, I thought your write up was more poetic than snark.
Writing that connects the end to the beginning, weaving in everything in between
is highly satisfying.


In the cathedral of BCP, there is no greater blasphemy. Please eliminate such thinking. ;)
.

Why thank you. I think one aim of writing is to illicit different responses for each reader?
And blaspheme, I will not... Noted!
 
"look at the orange rocks" is what drives the bonding of family memories. Love it! @Jeffrey Chandler will Never live down the period before he became a trail lover. @Scott Chandler will be razzing him when they are old geezers. We have started calling it his psychotic year as there is no other way of looking at it retroactively.
 
Similar threads
Thread starter Title Forum Replies Date
J Bunch O' N. San Rafael Swell summit scrambles April 10-12, 2021 (now w/rock art) Hiking & Camping 3
Janice Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Michigan's Upper Peninsula Backpacking 6
Titans Fun shaped Rocks Photography 26
balzaccom Stacking Rocks General Discussion 1
NorthwestWanderer Goat Rocks attempt & Tahklak Lake Hiking & Camping 1
Stephanie B Behind the Rocks, Ken's Lake Faux Falls, U-Turn Canyon, Seven Mile Canyon, and Dark Angel Hiking & Camping 4
Vegan.Hiker Hopewell Rocks, Cape d'Or, Canada Everything Else 12
J Dayhikes GSENM, Cap Reef, Behind the Rocks: Deer Cr, Tanks, Sheets Gulch, Moab Rim Apr. 4 to 8, 2018 Hiking & Camping 0
Kullaberg63 Indecision Peak, Red Rocks, NV Hiking & Camping 0
Curt Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore On The Water 17
Nick Escalante On The Rocks On The Water 42
Ben Gooding City of Rocks, Coyote Creek Hiking & Camping 10
Opi Pictured Rocks 2013 Hiking & Camping 10
Ross The Needles, Behind the Rocks and Goblin Valley area Hiking & Camping 5
Ross Poison Spider Mesa views of Behind the Rocks Trip Planning 3
Ross Invite Halls Creek Narrows.....(& perhaps Needles/Behind The Rocks) Meet Up (Members Only) 12
DownUnderNoel The Pilbara: Red dust, trees, rocks and holes in the ground Everything Else 12
Seldom Seen Anderson Church Rocks Hiking & Camping 7
BrettCottrell Seneca Rocks, West Virginia Hiking & Camping 7
Jammer Behind the Rocks Backpacking 10
slc_dan Hamburger Rocks via The Post -Capitol Reef- Backpacking 14
gnwatts Clik Elite rocks! General Discussion 0
Alison Desert Rocks- Moab 2012 General Discussion 0

Similar threads

Back
Top