Monday, May 15, 2006

Cathedral Valley

Recently we made a quick little weekend trip to Capitol Reef National Park. We all needed a break after the last few months of being homebound and dealing with medical problems.

We booked a room in Torrey, Utah, and headed South on a Friday evening. We arrived at about 10:00 pm that night. Fortunately the motel accepts pets, so we were able to take our little dog with us.

The next day we started exploring. The kids really enjoyed scrabbling up onto rocks and boulders. Mama and the kids also enjoyed collecting rock samples.

Later in the day, on Saturday, we ventured into the Cathedral Valley section of the park. There is a loop road, that takes you into this area, however, we didn’t have time to do the entire loop. At one end of the road, you have to ford the Freemont River. I had checked in at the visitor center to make sure that it was safe to ford the river. As we approached the river, Amy was quite nervous (even angry) that we would drive our perfectly dry truck through a river! After surviving the river ford, she warmed up quite a bit. We 4-wheeled through some sand dunes, and then climbed the trail up the side of a hill. Mama and Bryan wanted to get out and do some rock collecting, so I let them out, and found a place to turn around on the road. After Bryan and Mama rejoined us in the truck, we headed back down the hill, and were ready to ford the river again. This time Amy was looking forward to it! We made it through the river safely both times, and Amy was a happy camper. Later on, Amy actually wanted to go back and ford the river again, just for fun!

Cathedral valley was beautiful. We saw some prickly pear in bloom, with bright red flowers. There are two main rock formations in Cathedral Valley. These are “The Temple of the Sun”, and “The Temple of the Moon”. To me these rock formations remind me more of giant sailing ships, than cathedrals, but you be the judge.

(Temple of the Moon to is above, and Temple of the Sun is below.)










All in all, we had a really great time. It was good to get away, and get some fresh air, and see some of our beautiful Utah Redrocks.

You can view more photos from our trip to Capitol Reef National Park here.

6 comments:

Tigersue said...

I'm so glad you were able to get away. I'm also glad to see that things are starting to improve. I'm also sorry about the nerve damage to your feet, I imagine it probably feels alot like the post shingles pain. I was concerned about that when I saw that you were on Flagyl, nasty stuff.
Take care, I think of you often.

Lisa M. said...

Capital Reef is my old stomping ground. I have spent every summer since I was ten in Loa, not too far from Torry, and one of my first dates was playing frisbee at Fruita.

I think it is one of the most amazing places on earth. I love Torry.

My Auntie and Uncle own Steven's Ice and they provide Ice to almost everywhere in the South Central region of Utah.

I am so glad you were feeling good enough to go, and the pictures are spectacular.

I used to clean rooms at the Wonderland Inn.

*chuckle*

Oh so many years ago!

Anonymous said...

My family took one memorable vacation to Capital Reef when I was about 7. On a hike during that trip, we encountered my first (and only) rattle snake. I remember it vividly.

Congrats on getting the tubes out. I hope that the nerve pain gets under control soon and that surgery can be avoided. Thank you for the update.

Mary A said...

David, I am glad you and your family took a little mini-vacation. I'm sure it refreshed all your spirits. Thanks for posting some photos. Loved the bright red cheerful flowers!

You all hang in there. People are praying for you.

Anonymous said...

How wonderful that you got to go see such beuatiful landscpaes!

Best wishes to you!

Anonymous said...

It's been a while since I last visited your site - and then I come here and see what I've been missing!

I haven't been to Utah since I was a baby, and really, that doesn't count. Every picture I see is so beautiful. Thank you for the posting the images of your trip!