Park Number: 29/63

First Visited: August 5, 2011

Of the five Utah national parks, Capitol Reef is the most subtle. This isn’t to say that it lacks prominence, it just doesn’t have the in-your-face monuments the other parks bolster.

What this park does has is geological magnitude—a warp in the earth’s crust called the Waterpocket Fold. From a distance you get a perspective on this seventy-five mile monocline formation; from up close it simply looks like a defensive wall. This is one result of tectonic plates colliding.

Like the other parks of Utah this place has domes, slabs, and arches, but what really stands out is the fold. If you have topographical or earthly curiosities, Capitol Reef is for you.

Tribes affiliated with Capitol Reef include the Fremont, ancestral Puebloans, Ute, Paiute, Hopi, Navajo, and Zuni.

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*Several images on this page by Steve Witmer