CAPITAL REEF

Sitting at the booth table in our RV a few weeks back, I was laying out the plans for the Utah portion of our journey. I had the large atlas out and was starting to plan the sequence of parks and the roads to get there and so forth. OK. So we leave Grand Canyon in northern Arizona and then enter southern Utah and hit Zion. Check. Then we start heading a little to the northeast and stop at Bryce Canyon. Check. We continue in a northeast direction and next comes……Capital Reef National Park? The first thought that hits me is where the heck did this name come from? A reef is in the ocean and this is most definitely a desert. Well, this desert used to be under an ocean so maybe there’s a reef still there. What’s the deal with the Capital? When you actually get to Capital Reef National Park, it starts to make some sense.

As with the previous two parks, Zion and Bryce, Capital Reef has it’s own unique geological forces at work that give it a distinctive geology different from the others in Utah.

So, first the Capital. It doesn’t take long after entering the park to notice the large, white, dome shaped mountain among the other hills and ridges. This to the early settlers reminded them of the US Capital, so that is the name they gave it. Since it is such a distinctive part of the geology here, it made its way into the parks name. Now a reef is a coral or rocky structure in the ocean that blocks ships from getting near a bay or coastline. It also doesn’t take long to notice a range of white, rounded, steep, cliffs that run for over 100 miles. This is the reef and so named because it formed a barrier to the settlers trying to get to the other side of them. The question to me then became how is it that this “reef” formed here but not in the other parks. I decided to attend the ranger talk the morning after our arrival where the geology of the park would be discussed. I’ll try to recount it here to the best of my limited earth science abilities. As with most of this state, there are multiple layers of sediment that has been deposited over millions of years as it has been covered with oceans, deserts, swamps, and forests, a result of climate change. The bottom most layer is white, Kaibab Limestone and that in turn is covered with a variety of colored sandstone and other deposits. Underneath all of this, there were two of the earths tectonic plates grating over each other that pushed the land up and formed the Colorado Plateau, but, in this park and in this location, there was a fault underground and these plates caused the earth by this fault to push up even higher, to 7,000 feet and then fold over. This is referred to as the “Water Pocket Fold”. Now the sandstone formed the top layers of the fold and erosion eventually wore these layers away, leaving the much tougher Kaibab Limestone layer on top, which is what you see today. It is quiet impressive. Like the other arid parks in Utah, Capital Reef only gets roughly 8” of rain a year but when it comes, it causes tremendous erosion and flash flooding. You can easily see how these upper layers were carried away, leaving only the limestone. You can see the white Water Pocket Fold in some of the pictures above.

The area here was first settled by the Mormons and their orchards, fields, cabins, homes, and barns are still here and still in use. The valley that runs through this amazing area is snaked through by the Fremont River, which provided them with an abundance of water for farming and raising animals. It really is like a garden of eden in the valley. No doubt it was to the Mormon as well. Our hikes took us up to the high ridges above the valley and gave us the ability to gaze upon them down below. Quite a sight.

The hikes also took us through the lows of the canyons and the ridges of the high desert, and as with the other parks in the Utah desert, the nature here is a powerful drug, and one that is difficult to get out of your system. I am quite surprised by the impact these desert ecosystems and geology have had on me. It’s hands have turned my head and made me see the amazing beauty, and color, and lines, that is all around me here. It has told me to breath, and to stop, and to look and to listen. And I have.