Capitol Reef National Park

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          My husband and I took a last minute trip to Utah for Labor Day Weekend.  We went to some National Parks, mostly.  We had been wanting to go back to Zion and Bryce Canyon for a few years and had never been to Capitol Reef.  I will be talking about the other two parks later on but this post is about Capitol Reef.  We brought our dog along on the trip because we want to travel with him a lot and wanted to see how he would do on a medium-long road trip.  Also, we didn’t want to get a sitter.  It’s not too difficult to bring dogs to National Parks if you aren’t planning on hiking.  It was too hot to hike so it worked out perfectly.  Overall he did really well on the trip.  I feel that I must include that we were very cautious and sanitary.  We wore masks whenever necessary and socially distanced ourselves.  Capitol Reef hardly had any people so it wasn’t a big deal at all.  We also packed a lot of food so we hardly had to eat out.  

          Overall Capitol Reef is a beautiful park.  I think it’s definitely worth a visit at some point in your life.  It is very similar to other National Parks in Utah but still has a different feel.  Like I said, it wasn’t even slightly crowded so that was really nice.  It’s a pretty small park but there are plenty of beautiful sites to see.  The scenic drive was really amazing.  At the end of it there is a canyon that you can drive through.  We almost turned around because it’s a gravel road and my tires are small so I was a little nervous.  It ended up being totally worth it.  I suggest just driving slow and make sure to leave plenty of time before sunset.  

TIPS

1.  Bring plenty of water because of the heat.  If you have car trouble things can get bad fast. 
2. Buy a National Park Pass if you will be visiting more than 2 National Parks in one year.  You can save a lot of money.  
3. Never enter a National Park with less than a full tank of gas.  There normally aren’t any gas stations and some parks are huge.  
4. Consider booking accommodations in advance because most of the towns around are very small.  There is a limited number of hotels and campgrounds.  
5. Do research before you go.  Sometimes areas will be closed and it’s always good to have an idea about what trails you want to hike and if there are any warnings.