Going to Capitol Reef National Park

What to do in Capitol Reef National Park

The unyielding blue of Utah's desert sky can play tricks on the mind. Fall under its spell and you might begin to see that blue dome as an inverted sea through which the sun's refracted rays illuminate the hypnotic Waterpocket Fold. The Fold is the defining geologic formation that makes up Capitol Reef National Park, a 100-mile stretch of buckled earth characterized by crimson cliffs, soaring spires, massive domes, serpentine canyons, graceful arches, stark monoliths, and silence.

The park tends to attract a society of hikers, rock climbers, mountain bikers, and equestrian explorers who prefer solitude to trendy social scenes. As the least visited of Utah's five national parks, this vast and wild frontier still offers a glimpse of America before it was settled by a civilization intent on paving the...

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