Capitol Reef – Cassidy Arch and Capitol Gorge Drive

In April my friend Micah and I adventured through Capitol Reef, drove the Burr Trail and hiked Lower Calf Creek Falls.  You could actually call this our 2^nd annual Southern Utah trip as we went last year having so much fun that we came back to explore other areas around Capitol Reef.

Our trip started off with a hike to Cassidy Arch via the Grand Wash trailhead.  This is shortly after the fee box area (currently 5$ per vehicle) driving the scenic drive in Capitol Reef.  You can actually see the arch to the left when driving into the parking lot.  The sun was shining and the weather was really nice for hiking at 65 degrees F (ok, I’ll admit I can always do warmer).

The hike starts by following the Grand Wash hike along the wash (what else!).  The signage indicates its 0.3miles to the turn off.  We knew to look for a sign on the left hand side.  Now, Micah and I talk…we talk a lot while hiking.  And, needless to say, this can sometimes be a problem when the turnoff is not so obvious.  When the GPS said 0.5miles and we hadn’t turned off we did an about turn and walked back. It turns out that the sign is only 0.2miles away from the parking lot and the sign is up on the mountain side about 10 feet off the trail and only about 2 feet high made of natural stone.  Luckily the wash was flat and easy but it’s never fun to walk a mile further than you have too! 

Once on the real trail you climb like a goat up for a ¼ mile for about 670ft.  There are plenty of switchbacks so it isn’t a thigh burner but I was breathing hard (and probably harder than I should have been).  One then walks along the top plateau with beautiful views of the rocks and valley before turning off to the west to follow cairns the rest of the way to the arch. 

The arch is deceptive.  Upon walking out to the edge it is magnificent with a good downward slope (don’t let anything roll down into the canyon!) which gives you nice viewing.  The arch itself appears to be only a few feet wide.  Being cautiously adventurous I walked around and out onto the arch because one should never miss a creative photo opportunity.  It was actually several feet wide (and at least appeared sturdy <g>).  This perspective of the arch was really amazing because you got the full expansive view into the crevice below – which was many feet down.  Interestingly, when looking back to where the trail ends it looks scarier over there because the cliff is so sheer and the sandstone is on a slope down.  It is definitely worth it to walk around the entire arch to get the different views as each is unique.  I’m sure there is a great Sunday school lesson about perspectives in there somewhere!

The total hiking time with at least a 20 minute stop was 3.5 hours and 3 miles (apparently 4 if you miss the turn off).  I had arthroscopic knee surgery 4 months ago and while my knee was sore it handled it well.  Translation:  This is an enjoyable hike capable for most anyone.

After the hike we drove to the bottom of the scenic drive and followed the gravel road (very nice gravel road I might add) through the Capitol Gorge drive.  This was absolutely spectacular.  It is just a few miles long but it’s basically a slot canyon for cars!  You drive through sheer cliff walls a hundred feet high.  It is one of the prettiest drives I’ve ever taken (albeit short).  It used to be an actual road many moons ago. 

At the end of the road you continue to follow the level road by walking for maybe 20 minutes seeing petroglyphs and also a wall where pioneers carved their names into the walls.  I have no way of knowing which ones were authentic from the 1800’s and 1900’s but it did seem interesting.  It was also ironic to me that there were several signs posted about not carving your name into the stone and yet that is what we were going to see.  I guess old graffiti is ok, new graffiti is not? 
Once done we then drove back north.  There are numerous pullouts and some of them have amazing views of the entire Capitol Reef red rock walls.  Micah and I found one of the prettier stops (in our opinion), pulled out some dinner and watched the sun set over the red rock.  It was spectacular and capped off a beautiful day.

It was then off to Capitol Reef Inn in Torrey for the night.  This is a nice, cheap and clean motel I would recommend.

Click here to check out ALL the new pictures added to my site from this trip.