Travel Blog

On Saturday, Phil and I took Scenic Byway 12, Utah’s All-American Road, to Capitol Reef National Park. The Byway was indeed scenic, and I took so many pictures of the way to the park, and then in the park, that I decided to put more than five pictures in the scroll at the top of the page. So take the time to check those out, if you will.

According to some literature we picked up at our RV park, Scenic Byway 12 has been designated a National Scenic Byway and an All-American Road by the Federal Highway Administration. To be designated an All-American Road, a roadway must possess one-of-a-kind features so exceptional that it qualifies as a destination “unto itself.” The route is 124 miles long, starting at Panquitch, Utah, and traveling eastward through Dixie National Forest, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, over Boulder Mountain and ending west of Capitol Reef National Park.

We then made it to Capitol Reef National Park, named so by pioneers who were reminded of the country’s Capitol when they saw this feature:

The park map we got at the Visitor’s Center describes this park as “a giant buckle in (the) Earth’s crust…called the Waterpocket Fold. Capitol Reef National Park reserves the fold and its eroded jumble of colorful cliffs, massive domes, soaring spires, stark monoliths, twisting canyons and graceful arches.” We had the dogs with us since Capitol Reef was so far away from the RV park, meaning we didn’t do any hiking, but we took the scenic drive instead, and saw a few of those features described.

We stopped to take pictures along the way, of course, and here are a few of those:

The one place we did do a little walk was at the petroglyphs. We’re suckers for rock scribbles. The Fremont Indians were the artists here, and they lived in the area about 700 years ago. From what we read, they stayed only a short time before deserting the area.

If you’re in the area doing Bryce and/or Zion, we recommend taking the extra journey to see the Byway and Capitol Reef National Park. When we get back this way, we’re going to ditch the dogs and do some hiking through the place. It was well worth the gas money, in our minds.

And I will leave you with Phil’s artsy photo of the day: