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Called "Wayne Wonderland"
in the 1920s by local boosters Ephraim P. Pectol and Joseph S. Hickman,
Capitol Reef National Park comprises 378 square miles of colorful canyons,
ridges, buttes, and monoliths. About 75 miles of the long up-thrust called
the "Waterpocket Fold", extending like a rugged spine from Thousand
Lake Plateau southward to Lake Powell, is preserved within the park boundary.
"Capitol Reef" is the name of an especially rugged and spectacular
part of the Waterpocket Fold near the Fremont River. Only a few decades ago
the Waterpocket Fold country comprised one of the remote
corners of the "lower 48". Easy road access came only with the
construction of a paved Utah Highway 24 through the Fremont River
Canyon in 1962.
 Visitors to Capitol Reef are often curious about the
orchards that lie within a mile or two of the Visitor Center. These trees are
the most obvious remnant of the pioneer community of Fruita, which was
settled in 1880. Today, the orchards are preserved and protected
as a Rural Historic Landscape. The orchards hold approximately 2,700 trees and
are composed of cherry, apricot, peach, pear, and apple, as well as, a few plum,
mulberry, almond, and walnut trees. The National Park Service now owns and
maintains the orchards with a 2-person orchard crew that is kept busy year
round with pruning, irrigation, and orchard management.
Capitol Reef National Park has an arid
climate with precipitation averaging just 7.2 inches annually at the park
Visitor Center weather station. The Scenic Drive starts at the park Visitor
Center and provides access to Grand Wash, Capitol Gorge, Pleasant Creek, and
the South Draw Road. The Scenic Drive is a 10 mile paved road with dirt spur
roads into Grand Wash and Capitol Gorge that, weather permitting, are
accessible to ordinary passenger vehicles. The Scenic Drive is not a loop,
so you must return on the same road. The entrance station is located just south
of the campground on the Scenic Drive.
National Parks Conservation Association -
The gradual, accelerated warming of our planet will have disastrous consequences for America's
national parks. But all is not lost. Although the situation seems dire, NPCA's report,
Unnatural Disaster, says we
can still halt the most severe effects of climate change if we take action now. The national parks offer
a unique opportunity to draw attention to America’s priceless resources at risk, and to showcase
opportunities to act to protect them.
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