Growing up, my parents took my younger brother & I on some long road trips to national parks! (Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks.) I loved getting to see these places to different from the flat farmland of IL. As an adult living in WA, those amazing terrains in these national parks are amazing to explore even more.
The next stop in our southern Utah hiking vacation was to Capital Reef National Park near Torrey, UT.
A national park pass (America the Beautiful pass) is required for these. Unlike other parks, this one didn’t have a station you drive through that checks these passes, but make sure you have it displayed at viewpoints and trailheads. Highway 12 runs through the park which I would assume is why they don’t have a pass check point.
We arrived in Torrey, UT and stayed at a tiny 1800’s pioneer cabin that had recently been renovated and turned into a vacation rental. It was ‘tiny house living’ for sure, but done VERY well!
Like most national parks, there is so much to explore, we couldn’t do it all in the time we had. We managed to fit in:
- Cassidy Arch
- Rim Overlook
- Hickman Bridge
Cassidy Arch
We started our day with a stop at the Capital Reef Visitor Center and then headed up the Scenic Road to the Grand Wash road. We stopped at the end of the road and hiked up to the Cassidy Arch.
This isn’t too long of a trail (I think about 3ish miles and less than 1000 ft elevation gain). There is an incredible viewpoint of the arch about halfway that if you wanted to stop for the picture, that would be the spot. (the picture above is taken from there)
We continued along to the end of the trail which ends just above the arch looking down through it!! We stopped on top for lunch and then as we headed back down, we ventured out over the top of the arch! It’s so wide across the top, you wouldn’t know you’re walking on an arch, if you didn’t already know it.
We did see someone rappelling down through it and saw a couple of anchor points where people rope in.
Once we got back down to the Wash, we did walk up the Grand Wash for a bit, we were hot and have walked up washes before, so turned back after about a 1/2 mile or so. You can walk the whole wash back up to the main road.
Rim Overlook
Our next day in Capital Reef took us up the Navajo Knobs trail to the Rim Overlook. This day was partially cloudy and we loved the occasional reprieve from the sun when a cloud blew in.
The views from the overlook are spectacular! You can see for miles! The perspective from above shows even more beauty that you see from below. It was well worth the trip up!
We ran into two different couples up there that we chatted with a bit. We always enjoy hearing where other people have been and what they recommend!
Next up, as we headed back down from the Rim Overlook, we veered over to the
Hickman Bridge
This bridge is a short walk from the same trailhead as the Rim Overlook. We got to the side trail and headed to the bridge. This is one that you can easily walk around and underneath allowing for a ton of different angles to view it from.
This must be a very popular trail in the busy times as they have made the end of this trail a loop. (Herding cats….)
We stopped here and ate the rest of our lunch that we hadn’t finished up at the Overlook. It was beautiful (and a bit shady) to stop and enjoy this gorgeous arch.
When we got back to the car, we headed back to Torrey and stopped for ice cream at the Color Ridge Creamery in town. We both decided to get a flight of their ice cream. The lavendar honey was to die for!!!
We loved Capital Reef and plan to include it on future trips to Southern Utah.
For more from our Southern Utah trip, read here.