Capitol Reef Rambling Recap & Gallery

In the first week of October 2024, I completed a six-day backcountry trip in Capitol Reef. I’ve already posted the videos for the trip, but wanted to follow-up with a written recap of the trip along with a bunch of photos. I’ve also added a Full Gallery for even MORE photos and the map with associated POIs to my Master Map (turn on the “Other Backpacking Trips” option and zoom in as necessary).  Now… on with the recap:

DAY 0: 

The day before hiking I actually stayed in the park campground near Fruita. I knew it was an awesome spot, but had never been able to stay there. I got lucky this time and snagged a cancellation just before my trip. I met my friend and fellow hiker Jarl (aka The Norwegian Xplorer) there as he’d join me on the first part of my hike. Since we had some extra time we went over and hiked to Hickman Bridge. Somehow I’d never done this extremely popular hike. It’s an impressive span — very cool to finally see it in person and since we did it after sundown we had the place to ourselves which was awesome.

DAY 1:

We got a slow start on the first morning of hiking and then had to set-up a car shuttle for Jarl, set out a small cache, and get our permits from the visitor center. Because of all of this we didn’t actually start hiking until almost noon. We headed up Sulphur Creek splashing through the water while trying to avoid contact to hands/face due to an E. coli warning. The water actually felt good as it was unseasonably warm — right at 90 degrees. The hike itself through the canyon was pretty incredible. It’s another one that I’d never done before primarily because I knew it too was popular and thus often quite busy. However on this day we didn’t see anyone else until late in the afternoon and even then it was only two groups (though one was a group of 12!)

The canyon is quite scenic with narrow towering walls throughout most of its length. Along the way there are three waterfalls which present minor obstacles. The lower one was the most difficult to get over due to the slick rock and deep pool underneath. There is a longer bypass to get around this one if needed on the bench on the left (looking up canyon).

The other two waterfalls are bigger, but actually easier to get past with fairly easy scrambles right nearby. There was one mandatory pool which was belly-deep for me, but otherwise most of the water was no more than to my knees.

The upper part of the canyon goes through The Goosenecks. Here a keen eye can actually see tourists up on the rim at a popular overlook. Not much farther is the side canyon we’d exit and soon after that we were at the Chimney Rock TH.

We picked up our cache near the trailhead (eg extra water, dry shoes/socks, and misc. stuff we didn’t want to carry through the water) and then continued up the Chimney Rock Trail. The sun was setting and lighting up the high canyon walls as we made our way down “Chimney Canyon”.

We finally made it to the junction with Spring Canyon. By that point it was dark and we went up canyon a short distance to a place I’d camped before near a spring.

DAY 2:

Woke up and said goodbye to Jarl. He had to head back to Norway in the coming days, so he’d have to hike down canyon and to his car. I headed out tin the opposite direction though and began the climb to the high plateau above Spring Canyon to an area I visited in 2022. There were several arches up there that I wanted to re-visit and I hoped to find a new-to-me route to loop back down into Upper Spring Canyon. After loading up on water I set out up the “crack” that I’d done before. It was quite a bit of work — especially with a knee that was still questionable — but overall it was easier than last time knowing what I was in for.

Once up the big climb I enjoyed the amazing views along the rim of the canyon. As I made my way north I happened to turn around at one moment and looking back spotted an arch high up on the ridge. I decided I had to go back and get a closer look. I’m glad I did as it was a pretty cool span and had some cowboyglphs from 1872. I would later learn that locals refer to this as “Cowboy Arch”.

Back on my main route I began wandering from the ideal path a bit to explore some washes hoping to find some potholes. No luck on that, but I did find a small natural bridge. Before long I made it up to the spire which is the prominent landmark on the ridge. There are great views from here down to northern slopes of the Fold and on to South Desert and beyond.

From here I followed the ridge to the NW deviating from my path from my 2022 route. By staying along the high ridge the views were excellent, but walking was slower as there were a bunch of up and downs along the way. I got to another prominent outcrop and made camp just after the sun had gone down.

DAY 3:

In hindsight this was a pretty terrible day in which I made VERY little mileage across the map. I left camp and climbed down the ridge and made my way to an arch that I’d stumbled upon on my previous trip. Cool arch and it was good to check it out again. It was the first of three arches I hoped to see — the other two were farther up and I’d only gotten a glimpse of them from a distance last time.

Leaving the arch I decided to try a different route and way up to a high shelf on the area that I referred to last time as “Horseshoe Dome”. After that previous trip I realized it’s marked as “Capital” on the USGS Topo. I find this interesting as it’s noted as CapitAl and not CapitOl like the park itself. Anyway as I made I way around the NE side I soon realized there would be no way to get up to the upper rock shelf I wanted to attain. Going all the way around at the lower level would be tedious and take too long — thus I headed back to the south to where I’d gone before.

Once back on the south side of the outcrop I once again decided to try a different route and continue even farther south into the valley which runs parallel to Capital. I thought it would be fun to try something new and maybe I’d find some water down in the wash. Turned out… neither was true. The route wasn’t that fun and the wash and all its side drainages were bone dry. This day was overcast, but it was still warm (again around 90 degrees) and I was running low on water. After a break I decided I needed to head back and forgo getting to the other arches. I remembered last time I didn’t find any water in that upper plateau and at the rate I was going it was all going to take too long. Somewhat bummed, I headed back more or less the way I came.

Soon more clouds gathered and I could see rain falling in several different directions — but none on me. On my way back I decided to explore one more drainage for water and once I climbed down into the inner canyon… I found some! In a crazy coincidence… as I was scooping water a light rain began to fall on me. Rejuvenated with the water I headed back to the northwest once again as a double rainbow came out behind me.

This time heading NW I decided to re-trace my steps from my 2022 trip. As I got ready to do that, a substantial downpour let lose so I cozied up under an overhang for a while. I actually grabbed some extra water as the stuff I got from the pothole was pretty nasty. Once the rain stopped I headed up my route from 2022. Getting up what I referred to as “Pine Tree Gully” wasn’t easy, but I knew it worked and sure enough soon I was once again up on the higher shelf where walking was easy.

As I rounded the west end of Capital I reached the spot where it was necessary to climb back down. About this time the sun was setting and it lit up the sky in an incredible display of color. I decided that this was the perfect place to camp — and it was. I enjoyed watching the sundown and had dinner in my tent. Then, not long after dark I heard the craziest animal sounds and the creature was VERY close by. Turned out it was a Mexican Spotted Owl and he was only about 15′ away from my tent! I was actually lucky enough to get him on video with his call. He eventually moved on, but even then I could still hear him calling into the night for the next hour or so a little bit farther away each time.

DAY 4:

In the morning I climbed down from the cliffs and made my way over to another wash. I took a break near a mini arch formation that I’d stopped at in 2022. I decided that I should forgo my ultimate plan of continuing up toward Thousand Lakes Mountain en route of finding a way back down into Upper Spring Canyon. I was already too far behind and water was in such limited supply that I thought it was all just too much. Instead I decided to leave much of my gear here and essentially do a day hike out and back to the arches that I really wanted to see. So that’s what I did.

Before headed to the arches though, I took another diversion into a deep canyon to a potential waterhole I’d spotted on Google Earth. Before I’d even gotten to that spot I found another small tank. It took some effort to get down into the slot it was located, but I made the time and it made it happen. I took a break and filtered some of the water and it tasted great. I climbed back out and around and soon got to the potential tank I’d marked beforehand — and it was bigger and easier to access. I didn’t need the water, but thought I could stop back by on my return trip.

Contouring around a series of small canyons to the NW was fairly easy. Much of the ground is covered in crypto bacteria in this area, but it’s not too hard to bypass with a bit of patience. Before too long I was at the location of an old drilling site. It’s here that remnants of an old route can be found running to the north and out of the Fold. This is the route I followed on my previous trip. My current goal however was in the opposite direction — two arches on the horizon to the SW.

Soon I was at the base of the outcrop on which they were atop. I saw a makeshift log ladder climbing about 10′ up a crack in the wall and guessed that might be the route up, but walked the base to see if there was an easier way. Turns out there really wasn’t — a sketchy climb with exposure looked to be the only other option and I wasn’t sure I could safely do it. Thus — I went back the log ladder.

Due to the lack of good handholds it was trickier than it first looked. I got about half way up and… the main log broke in half under my weight! I spent time trying to fix it to no avail. I got pretty frustrated as I was SO close to the arches after spending so much effort to get to this location — and it looked like I could be denied. BUT… with some perseverance I kept experimenting and finally found a way to get up the crack. I’ve previously admitted that I’m not a very good climber so this was a challenge for me (others might not find it that difficult.) In any case… I was ecstatic to be up underneath the first arch. It was amazing and a short easy walk took me to the second and smaller arch.

The arches were awesome, but so were the views up Water Canyon and to Thousand Lakes Mountain. This is the way I’d originally wanted to go for my ultimate plan. It looks to be a rough, but amazing landscape. Someday I hope to return and check it all out.

Heading back from the arches was fairly fast. Just to top off my water I decided to revisit the tank from earlier. Turns out the big tank I was so excited about was really dank and smelled terrible — thus I skipped it and made the climb back down into the first slot nearby for some good water. By the time I got back to all my gear it was time to camp. For being a relatively easy day in terms of milage — I was exhausted. Stayed up long enough to enjoy the amazing night sky though.

DAY 5:

Woke up and decided to explore a new route back along the south side of Capital. This was the route I abandoned on Day 3, but I hoped coming from this direction it might be a little easier — especially since I was fine on water and didn’t need to explore the bottom of the wash.  First I made my way up the wash toward the low saddle which divided the two drainages. I explored a short slot along the way which got so narrow I had to backtrack and find my way around. Once over the saddle I made my way down the canyon. This required several short scrambles, but nothing too bad.

Before too long I re-connected with my previous route. It was in this area I found a bunch of seemingly old cairns. I’m not sure exactly which route they could be marking, but they were interesting to look at and imagine what route they might be marking.

Back over the main ridge I headed back to the SE. Along the way I stayed lower off the ridge similar to what I did in 2022 and the walking was definitely easier. After some time I was back to the pinnacles and then dropping back down the other side. It was a slow grind, but before along I was back to the edge of the side canyon with great views of the Navajo Sandstone domes in the heart of Capitol Reef farther south.

Climbing back down the crack and into Spring Canyon was no easy task. In some ways I think it was actually harder going down than up. That’s because it takes so much of a concerted effort to ensure one doesn’t get too much momentum moving downward on the steep talus and scrambles. Just after sunset I was down in the bottom and decided to camp in the same place again not far from the spring. Even though I was pretty walled in at this camp, the stars above were still amazing. Great view of the Milky Way and for the first time ever I got to see and photograph the Andromeda Galaxy. To think I was able to capture this via my PHONE just blows my mind.

DAY 6:

The final day! This was a good day. Though it lacked the off-trail adventure of many of the previous days, it was a nice pleasant (but long) day down a scenic canyon and then back up over and through another to finish the loop. I began by heading down canyon and before long I was back to the Junction where Jarl and I entered Spring Canyon several days earlier. Now though, I’d continue down the canyon.

The upper portion of this stretch is fairly uneventful. Soon I came to where the inner canyon forms a shallow slot, but it’s easy to bypass on the shelf. At one point the slot really narrows and there are a few drops. Evidently this can be climbed — but there’s really no need to do this as the bypass is easy and the slot portion isn’t overly scenic. This year there was even a few pools underneath the dryfalls which would have made the climb even more challenging. Farther down on the bypass one section crosses some loose dirt where there’s been a slide high above the inner canyon. I’ve seen videos of some who consider this a scary section to cross — but really the traction is fine and it’s not that bad. Soon after this one is back down walking in the wash.

From here down the walls of the canyon really begin to soar and are impressive. Very soon I came to the multi-way junction where a few drainages come down from the Navajo Domes area. I was originally going to explore up this way and try to connect back to the Hickman Bridge area. I’ve read that it’s possible via a few different sources, but I didn’t bring any detailed beta and by this point in my hike just wanted to finish things up without any exploratory drama. Also, it was still quite warm and I knew there was one more spring down Spring Canyon so I was looking forward to that — so I carried on down the canyon.

Just a little farther down I came to the incredible spire which dominates the view at a tight bend. Even though this spot looks cool in photos, IMHO those pics still fail to capture the scale of the scene here. It’s really pretty awesome.

Farther down canyon I came to the spring and took a break in the shade, before moving on once again. I really like the lower portion of Spring Canyon. It’s a nice walk and for the second time that I’ve done it I’ve basically had the place to myself (I saw nobody on this trip and only one solo hiker back in 2022.)

Before long I was to the Fremont River — where of course I had to get in and it felt great!

From here I walked up the road for a few miles to the Cohab Canyon Trail. Roadwalking is never fun, but at least the scenery was great. Once back on a trail I quickly climbed up and into Cohab Canyon. I was actually pleasantly surprised with how nice it was. It was my first time doing it and beforehand I’d imagined that it was just a “connector” route, but really it was quite scenic. Once again I saw nobody else on the trail — well except for Mr. Bighorn!

At the very top of Cohab Canyon the trail emerges with a great view of Fruita and the cliffs beyond. I was there just as the sun was going down and it was a great view to end the hike. It didn’t take long to do the steep switchbacks down to the bottom and then after getting some water at the campground I made my way back to my Jeep in a nearby parking area. Hike Complete! Total mileage was pretty low (50ish miles), but I still feel like I covered a lot of ground and definitely had a good trip.

Thanks for “following along”!

For more pictures be sure to see the Full Gallery for this hike. ✌