Capitol Reef National Park: Self-Guided Scenic Drive Tour – Capitol Reef National Park, Utah

EXPERIENCE

Don’t miss a thing as your favorite audio tour narrator guides you across Capitol Reef to not-to-be-missed points of interest, with fascinating stories, tips and directions along the way. Follow the suggested itineraries, or divide the commentary and create your own half, full or multi day sightseeing trips.

Capitol Reef is included in Utah’s Mighty 5 for a reason, with an amazing collection of massive, colored rock formations, cliffs and slot canyons rise from below the surface to provide us with an amazing display.

Major Highlights:

Scenic Drive
Capitol Gorge
Fruita
Fruita Schoolhouse
Goosenecks
Grand Wash Road
Grand Wash Trail
Petroglyphs

Includes:

Capitol Reef National Park

The highlights of the tour are found along Highway 24 with the petroglyphs by the native people of Fremont Culture, and on the 8-mile Scenic Drive that explores deeper into the park’s natural features. For just an 8 mile drive, the Scenic Drive really packs a punch with many spectacular views and amazing layered rock formations. It is the true highlight of Capitol Reef as we experience the Waterpocket Fold, up close and personal, as well as Fruita with its fruit orchards and preserved buildings like the one room Fruita Schoolhouse.

Beyond the official scenic drive begins an unpaved spur road continues for two miles (3.2 km) into Capitol Gorge. This narrow, twisting roadway used to be the main throughway through south central Utah. Continue to hike along the old roadbed to a spot where early pioneers and Mormon settlers carved their names in the rocks as they passed through the canyon.

Alternatively, drive the dirt Grand Wash Road, a short unpaved spur road located midway along the Scenic Drive. Grand Wash gets us intimately close with the rock layers, which in places look like Swiss cheese, that follows a huge walled canyon to the trailheads for Cassidy Arch and Grand Wash Trail.

HIGHLIGHTS

Explore Capitol Reef with this flexible and fully-automatic road trip audio tour
Drive between rock walls on the Scenic Drive
Taste Fruita pies or pick apples, cherries, apricots, pears, peaches and plums
Ponder the petroglyph figures
Learn about the geological features on display

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