Capitol Reef National Park Complete Guide: Cassidy Arch, Hickman Bridge & the Scenic Drive

capitol reef national park is one of the lesser visited national parks in utah located off the beaten path between bryce and arches it's well worth seeking out though as is a stunning area filled with hikes history and geological wonders while my dad and i only spent one day here we were able to see many of the park's best attractions and found a lot to love in this special part of utah here's all the information on our trip to capitol reef national park and be sure to let me know what i left off in the comments it's a nice 26 degrees to start our morning we're gonna grab some breakfast and then go explore capitol reef national park in the winter the food options are limited so we headed over to the pioneer kitchen and started with some trout and eggs that was the only open breakfast in town but surprisingly good heading in to the national park made it into capitol reef national park from our breakfast spot it was only about five minutes to enter the park and then another 10 minutes to get to the main sites chimney rock was the first point of interest there's a hiking trail close to the top but we just took it in from the road after passing chimney rock our first stop was at panorama point from there there's a short one-mile dirt road you can take to gooseneck's overlook it was easily passable with a two-wheel drive car when we went after you park it's a five-minute walk to the overlook and it's a beautiful area to see the different bends in the river back in the car it was a stunning drive to the park's interior and some of the historic sections we passed the main turn off which goes to the visitor center and the gifford homestead in order to go towards a hike that we were doing and to see the old school house the school here was used from when it was built in the late 1800s to 1941. this is one of the areas where you can harvest the fruit you want to go grab grab something off the tree for us this park has a dozen working orchards and during certain times of the year you can actually pick the fruit that they grow here we're at our next stop and supposedly there's some petroglyphs here pops is looking up at the petroglyphs you can see them they're right up there and they're pretty detailed which is really cool these petroglyphs have been dated to between 600 and a.d so there's some people right here and then there's some deer over here there used to be a lot more petroglyphs here pre-1950 but they were destroyed due to a rockfall if you have a zoom lens or binoculars this is a great stop in the park as they are well preserved and you can really see the petroglyphs we're setting out on our first hike in capitol reef going up to hickman bridge which is one mile each way we're right here and we are heading up to the bridge there's a way longer trail you can take but we're just doing this short one they have trail guides for 50 cents you can take here as well hickman bridge is the most popular trail in the park as it leads to a beautiful arch this trail is already beautiful we are running along a creek starting the uphill climb this trail is around 2 miles round trip with about 400 feet of elevation gain to get to the arch the trail begins flat as you follow the creek and then you start the uphill climb here's a little trail marker signs that refer to that little map you could get for 50 cents as you head up the trail is pretty amazing as there's some lava rock and there's great views across the way towards pectel's pyramid we reached a split we were heading to hickman bridge my dad wants everyone to know he recommends a hiking pole for this trail as there's a good amount of uphill and downhill and it helped a lot on the knees so cold these little pools are still ice this is a pretty cool little natural bridge it's right along the trail this bridge was about six and a half feet tall and had a circular opening in the middle it's on the right side of the trail so be sure to watch out for it as you head up there's our first view of the bridge right there we made it to a little loop trail we're going counterclockwise to go see the bridge and then it'll bring us back here wow that is a massive bridge that's really cool hickman bridge has a span of 133 feet and it's 125 feet high so even though it doesn't look that big from far away you'll notice how massive it is as you get close to it saying goodbye to the hickman arch and we are heading on with our loop the loop trail continues around to the south side and gives you some views back down into the canyon and over to the pyramid again [Music] after that it's heading back down to get to the trailhead we made it back to the start of the trail so now we're gonna head on to the visitor center the old homestead and then do the scenic drive from the trailhead it's about a five minute drive back to the fruta historic district with the visitor center and the scenic drive the visitor center has all the things you'd expect like magnets and stickers but i definitely recommend picking up a self-guided driving tour it cost a couple bucks when i went but it helped a lot with understanding the scenic drive leaving the visitor center you'll enter the historic area and start the scenic drive along the way there are many different historic buildings you can stop at with the first being the blacksmith shop as much as i liked being here in the winter for the lack of people it would be awesome to see the orchards in full bloom this is the famous gifford house where you get the pies that everyone raves about when you research capitol reef but unfortunately it is not open now doesn't open in the winter so we don't get to try the pies which is weak i agree just leave one out like a little slice for us to have this area doesn't open until pie day march 14th the rangers said they sell 70 000 pies a year and then often they sell out before lunchtime let me know in the comments if you get to have a pie and it's good i feel like i didn't have a full experience here without trying a pie but the homestead is pretty cool as you can see the old barn and there were some turkeys walking around [Music] leaving the gifford house starts the eight mile scenic drive into the park according to the scenic drive tour i got this route follows the water pocket fold which is a route that many different people groups have used for centuries eventually it was developed into a wagon route in 1884. the route is beautiful with massive rock formations and mountains on either side of you you'll definitely want to take your time as you make the drive back this is the end of the paved section of the scenic drive road there's a little bit more well there's a lot more dirt look at these old cars going through the gorge up ahead that's crazy when you reach capital gorge there's an additional two miles of road that you can take that's all dirt it was passable with a two-wheel drive car when i went and it was one of the highlights of the entire park for me until the 1960s this road was the only route through this area and you can imagine how dangerous it would be with the rockfall i recorded this entire route on my 360 camera and i'll link to it in the description if you want to be able to look around and see kind of what it's like to drive in here this is the end of the scenic drive dirt portion [Music] if you do the scenic drive definitely do this dirt portion it's incredible with all the narrow walls and everything and this is what the pioneers came through when they came out this area so definitely don't miss it plus it's accessible you don't need a four-wheel drive car to do it there are also some hiking trails which leave from the capital gorge area but we didn't have time to do any of them on this trip we made our way back down the scenic drive soaking in the views to turn off at the grand wash for our next hike this was another dirt road that was easily accessible with a two-wheel drive car if you're taking a self-guided tour there's a couple pull-outs one that looks at the old mines in the area and another that looks up at the arch you're gonna hike to we're heading out on our last trail of the day in capitol reef cassidy arch it's freezing and cold though so we'll see how far we can so we're going up to cassidy arch which is over here and then pops is going to get the car and i'm going to hike all the way through the grand wash and he's going to come pick me up on the other side cassidy arch and the grand wash are two of the other incredibly popular trails in the park [Music] the trail begins with a flat half mile walk through the gorge cassidy arch 1.5 miles almost a thousand feet according to this sign as you leave the gorge the trail immediately goes up on steep switchbacks we're heading up on the steep trail a lot of wind but beautiful views and this first section is the steepest the trail on the way up ended up being a lot more exposed than i thought it was going to be with decent drop-offs on the left side of you pops doesn't like the exposed sections and this is a relatively exposed hike so do know that if you don't like them either so he's heading back down and i'm continuing to cast the arch this is what i mean by exposure it's like a drop like that as you're walking along the trail while it's not even remotely crazy considering some of the things we did on this road trip like angel's landing if you don't like heights it's probably not a great trail for you look how cool that canyon is with the road running right through it there's the parking lot you can see how far up we've come already we're way up here i really enjoyed this trail and the views as it gave you a great appreciation for the landscape of capitol reef that first half mile is the super steep uphill portion from there it's basically just a gradual uphill but it's still uphill the whole way [Music] there's that area where we were hugging the side over the canyon we've come all the way up here gone back there continuing to go up whoa first view of the arch wow that's cool even though it looks like the arches close we still have to go around here all the way over it's like a half mile [Music] there's cars to mark the trail but definitely bring all trails map with you as you get closer to the arch the trail gets a little bit harder to follow you know the general direction but you kind of have to look for the rocks to know your way as we come to the final cairn there is the arch right there made it's a cassidy arch this is one of those arches you can actually go walk out on as well what's crazy about this arch is that it sits about 500 feet above the canyon below you so it feels like you're up somewhere really high when you're walking out on it staying on the arch is actually not sketchy at all is gigantic up here it's crazy being out on the arch as it's so big that it doesn't feel like you're standing on something like that be sure to give your camera to somebody before you walk on it so you can get your picture man these views up here are crazy this is a beautiful hike and even without the arch being able to see these types of views makes it well worth it leaving cassidy arch gonna hike back down hike all the way through the ground wash meet up with pops again and then that'll be the end of our time in capitol reef before we head to moab cassidy arch trail is something you cannot miss if you visit capitol reef back to cassidy arch breaking off with the grand wash trail found pops again he's heading to the car i'm heading down the grand wash trail [Music] this trail is 2.5 miles each way we were already about a half mile in when we started the cassidy arch trail so it's about two miles to get to the end this trail is one of the most family friendly in the park as it's two miles each way but it's completely flat the entire time this trail is beautiful as you wind your way through sandstone cliffs that tower above you this cannon is so cool all sorts of massive cliffs even some little wind caves and every bend changes as you continue forward the canyon's really wide with lots of rock formations to look out for be sure you don't do this trail if there's any rain in the forecast as you wouldn't want to get caught in here in a flash flood [Music] the canyon's getting a lot more narrow here we're about a mile in once we pass the next few bends we'll be in a section known as the narrows which is the most famous on this trail what's crazy about this trail is just how quiet it's been i only hear the sound of my footsteps some birds in the wind i haven't even seen any other people the entire time i've been in here this canyon reminds me of a much smaller scale version of the narrows in zion with no water that canyon is far more impressive but this is still a pretty cool one to see i'll check it out that canyon is getting more and more narrow at its most narrow section it's about 15 feet wide i don't know if this is officially the narrows or not but it's definitely the most narrow i've seen this canyon it's pretty impressive once you pass the narrow section the canyon opens up a lot more and the sides get a lot shorter that middle area is definitely the best part of the trail this trail is super cool but i'm ready for it to be over it's freezing hey look who we found on the trail it's pops he's finishing the end of this hike with me since this is an outer back trail with two different parking areas it's about 25 minutes to drive the car from one section to the other pops drove around there and then he hiked in to finish the trail with me it's good that pop showed up so you guys can see how big some of these canyons are we're saying goodbye to the big part of the grand wash and we're almost back to the parking area this is definitely a cool hike but i would say if you're picking hikes to do in the park do either one of the arches before you do this one because if you don't have a shuttle you've got to walk two and a half miles in the sand through the canyon two and a half miles back and there's definitely cooler trails you can do in capitol reef i see the parking lot it's right there made it back this is where we started and we walked all the way through and out to here that's it for our time in capitol reef national park hopefully if you come you get to try the pie also we really like this park so definitely check it out let me know what your favorite spot and this is in the comments and we will see you on the next video you

Channel: Through My Lens

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Id: P5HI9V3fzMw

Length: 18min 0sec (1080 seconds)

Published: Sun May 15 2022