School Day

For our last day of touring at Capitol Reef National National Park (Utah) we decided on a short (2.2 mile) hike up 400’  to Hickman Bridge.  For the first time since we’ve been exploring this park, we had a paper trail guide for our hike.  We took off, ready to learn.  From the parking lot, the path led under a ledge then up a set of steps, and then school was in session. 

We learned:  the Hickman Bridge trailhead is the best place to view the Capitol Dome which gave the park part of its name;

this pile of stones is the remains of a pithouse foundation built by the Fremont people at least 1300 C.E., the black boulders are andesite lava that were transported here by a melting glacier which also rounded them in the process;

these and other nice steps are the result of the labors of the Civilian Corps of Engineers;

the white Navajo Sandstone was deposited as sand dunes about 180 million years ago, the vertical lines typify sand dunes;

sandy areas were favored by plants the Fremont people (and many animals)used for food; the sand is held in place by a lumpy covering called biological soil crust which stabilizes the soil, retains moisture, acts as a seedbed, and supplies nitrogen to emerging plants; one step off the trail destroys this crust;signs all over the park remind people to stay on the trails, but people all over the park constantly go off trail as they did here;

the trail went down

and up, was hot in the sun and blocked the nice cool breeze but the scenery was worth it, and we greatly enjoyed the natural clouds in the sky and the clear views of the horizon—it seems that scattered showers and thunderstorms moving into the area have finally cleared out the wildfire smoke of the past week;

those round holes in the rock (right) are called solution cavities, formed when slightly acidic groundwater dissolved the calcite that cemented the sandstone grains together;

Duane still has flashbacks of his “near-death experience” from four years ago when he slid down a slickrock wall at Arches NP;

Hickman Natural Bridge is a 133’ long and 125’ high, named after Joseph Hickman who was a local school administrator, Utah legislator, and advocate for protecting this area;

the arch is hard sandstone left behind when the crumbly red shale behind it was eroded away;

the “faded Skittles pox” on the rocks are bits of iron that resist erosion.

We relearned that some things are not what they seem:

this little cave seen from the bottom

seen from the top is revealed to be one of a series of natural basins which hold water after storms; the“cave” was a basin before the walls eroded away;

that Creepy Guy can show up anywhere;

a rock wall is actually our first view of Hickman Arch;

A few more steps and the arch is revealed;

(Look again.  Keep looking.  To the left of the big dark red spot.)

a rock can hide a basking lizard;

a view of Capitol Dome also reveals our path down, the road, the green Fremont River bed, and some late hikers just starting up the trail (little dots down by the road on the far right);

a view of the path edge

revealed a lizard on the edge of the path;

a view of the river from the path edge

opens to reveal the steps down to the parking lot and the end of our hike.

Duane suggested pizza for lunch at this Torrey restaurant just across the street from Slackers Burger Joint.  This place has a nice seating area outside

and lots more room inside.  At 11:30 am we had the place to ourselves.  The pizza was very good, and gained a position at the top of our nationwide good pizza list.

Moving day tomorrow.

Louise and Duane