We got up very early and went to Sunrise Point to actually see the sun rise at Bryce Canyon before driving off to Capitol Reef via the Escalante Grand Staircase National Monument.
Sunrise at Sunrise Point
The drive was beautiful through much of Hwy 12 and getting off to hike was very tempting but we wanted to make the park in time to hike there. We did stop briefly at the Anasazi Village State Park to see the ruins there and also ran into a cattle drive that was going across the highway...
At Capitol Reef we found camping in the orchard lawn and took off down the scenic drive to find a hike in Capitol Gorge which promised to have some shade. Of course, at mid-day there is no shade in the desert, even in a slot canyon and we hiked up in sun 2 miles to The Tanks, depressions in the rock that hold water almost year round. Here we were in the middle of the desert and there is water teaming with tadpoles and insect life. We found a shady spot at the water to sit out part of the heat before heading back and this time finding the rock art along the walls.
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| Capitol Gorge | The Tanks |
We next drove up Grand Wash where we had thought about hiking to Cassidy Arch (named after Butch himself) but the heat was too much for a 2 mile, steep hike. Instead we drove over to the main petroglyph site along Hwy. 24 and walked the raised trail there viewing the rock art there.
Petroglyphs
We went back to camp and waited out the main heat of the day then as the sun began to go behind the Boulder Mountain range we hiked up the Fremont River trail to an overlook and went beyond to the next point to sit and watch the sunset.
Sun setting on the Fremont Trail
On to Day 8...
...Back to Day 6
