Hikes,  National Parks,  Trips,  Utah

Colorado and Utah 2012 in a 2 Door XJ – Wednesday

Another 186 windy miles covered today:
Sara L.: UT/CO Trip - Ben &emdash;

Starting with an early morning trip out to catch the sunrise at panorama point:
Sara L.: UT/CO Trip - Ben &emdash;

After which we made our way south to Calf Creek Falls and hiked the 7.2 miles (round trip) to go see the falls. While it was a bit of a hike, it was well worth the walk. Photos from the trip down there as we passed through Dixie National Park:
Sara L.: UT/CO Trip - Ben &emdash;

Sara L.: UT/CO Trip - Ben &emdash;

Sara L.: UT/CO Trip - Ben &emdash;

Sara L.: UT/CO Trip - Ben &emdash;

Whoa, what grade???
Sara L.: UT/CO Trip - Ben &emdash;

Sara L.: UT/CO Trip - Ben &emdash;

Sara L.: UT/CO Trip - Ben &emdash;

Calf Creek Falls is interesting in that its one of the very few streams that runs year round in the desert. So there are several micro climates along the way to the falls, from desert, to wetlands:
Sara L.: UT/CO Trip - Ben &emdash;

Sara L.: UT/CO Trip - Ben &emdash;

Sara L.: UT/CO Trip - Ben &emdash;

Sara L.: UT/CO Trip - Ben &emdash;

Sara L.: UT/CO Trip - Ben &emdash;

Sara L.: UT/CO Trip - Ben &emdash;

Sara L.: UT/CO Trip - Ben &emdash;

Sara L.: UT/CO Trip - Ben &emdash;

Sara L.: UT/CO Trip - Ben &emdash;

Sara L.: UT/CO Trip - Ben &emdash;

Sara L.: UT/CO Trip - Ben &emdash;

Sara L.: UT/CO Trip - Ben &emdash;

Sara L.: UT/CO Trip - Ben &emdash;

Hiking back out:
Sara L.: UT/CO Trip - Ben &emdash;

Sara L.: UT/CO Trip - Ben &emdash;

Sara L.: UT/CO Trip - Ben &emdash;

We then headed back to Boulder and had lunch at Burr Trail Grill. That was some fine eats! Once we left there we made the trek back to the Capitol Reef area via the Burr Trail. This started out as a paved road through some pretty areas:
Sara L.: UT/CO Trip - Ben &emdash;

Sara L.: UT/CO Trip - Ben &emdash;

Sara L.: UT/CO Trip - Ben &emdash;

Sara L.: UT/CO Trip - Ben &emdash;

Sara L.: UT/CO Trip - Ben &emdash;

Sara L.: UT/CO Trip - Ben &emdash;

Then turned to a rock road that gave us some better views:
Sara L.: UT/CO Trip - Ben &emdash;

Sara L.: UT/CO Trip - Ben &emdash;

Sara L.: UT/CO Trip - Ben &emdash;

Sara L.: UT/CO Trip - Ben &emdash;

Then we went down the Burr switch back (Imagine driving cattle up this!):
Sara L.: UT/CO Trip - Ben &emdash;

Sara L.: UT/CO Trip - Ben &emdash;

And we then continued down many, many miles of washboard roads:
Sara L.: UT/CO Trip - Ben &emdash;

Sara L.: UT/CO Trip - Ben &emdash;

Through some random construction (It was kind of neat, they just wave you through and tell you not to run into the heavy equipment. There was a few point where they had us go through some ‘mud’ areas that the water truck had just went over nearly creating a bog like quick sand mix. That made it real fun! After that, we kept on rocking on the paved road back to highway 24:
Sara L.: UT/CO Trip - Ben &emdash;

And made a few quick stops at an old Cabin (10 people lived in there), Indian Carvings and the old School house:
Sara L.: UT/CO Trip - Ben &emdash;

Sara L.: UT/CO Trip - Ben &emdash;

Sara L.: UT/CO Trip - Ben &emdash;

After that, we went back into town to grab a bite to eat, then returned back to Fruita for some evening photos:
Sara L.: UT/CO Trip - Ben &emdash;

Sara L.: UT/CO Trip - Ben &emdash;

And went down Grand Wash:
Sara L.: UT/CO Trip - Ben &emdash;

Sara L.: UT/CO Trip - Ben &emdash;

Sara L.: UT/CO Trip - Ben &emdash;

Old Uranium Mine that was claimed in 1904. The products from this mine were used to “Cure Arthritis” by placing the radio active dust either in your food, or by wrapping it up in little pouches and placing them on the joints:
Sara L.: UT/CO Trip - Ben &emdash;

And wrapped up the day by going to Goose Point and Sunset Point:
Sara L.: UT/CO Trip - Ben &emdash;

Sara L.: UT/CO Trip - Ben &emdash;

Fun fact, those mountains that you can somewhat see in the background of this photo are 145 miles away:
Sara L.: UT/CO Trip - Ben &emdash;

Sara L.: UT/CO Trip - Ben &emdash;

Sara L.: UT/CO Trip - Ben &emdash;

Tomorrow we say Goodbye to the Capitol Reef area, and head on back to CO. Hopefully it’ll be a little less windy for us!

Next Post – Thursday!

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