One of my favorite parks, Capitol Reef N P is lesser known and lesser visited compared to our more popular parks. The park includes more than 240,000 acres of some of the most tortured landscape one might see. Its principal feature is a section of the 100 mile long monocline known as Waterpocket Fold, a jagged wrinkle in the earth's crust created at the same time and by the same forces as the Rocky Mountains. Referred to as a "reef" by early settlers with a seafaring background, and having many white domed formations resembling the dome of the nation's capitol, it's easy to see how the name was derived.
The park has four major sections, but most visitors see only the valley near the visitor center, driving the scenic road that goes through the former village of Fruita. The valley was one of many remote locations settled by Mormons in the late 1800s. The name Fruita came from the fact that those settlers planted numerous fruit orchards that still thrive today, thanks to the irrigation system created at that time. Visitors in Spring are treated to a magnificent display of blooming fruit trees.
There is so much to do in this park, I won't bother going into detail here. Suffice to say, I've been here five or six times, some visits being as much as two weeks, and still haven't seen and done all there is. It's doubtful that many have.
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