Capitol Reef National Park
Capitol Reef in Utah is a rugged landscape of cliffs, domes, and spires. Painted in pale reds, whites, yellows, and browns.
The park is named for it's most prominent features. "The Capitol" is a dome of white sandstone that resembels the US capitol building's rotunda.
The "reefs" are what settlers moving westward often called the line of steep ridges that blocked their passage as the reefs surronding an island would block sea-going ships.
Capitol Reef is a segement of the "Waterpocket Fold"- a distinct wrinkle in the earths surface that stretches for 100 miles north-south through central Utah where faults and uplifts kinked the the rock layers suddenly upwards.
Waterpockets are potholes in the rock that collect rainwater. They are common in this area.
The Freemont river carved a valley through the fold and the main park road follows it.
Pioneer Register in Capitol Gorge. European settlers carved their names into this cliff face.
On the trail
All images © John Donohue, 1995,1996,2001