CAPITOL REEF NATIONAL PARK - UTAH

Jett’s Wild Flight: Hickman Bridge Trail at Capitol Reef

By: Jett Lillie, 4/30/23

We awoke with our hiking faces on and ran out the door! Don’t worry, we brushed our teeth and ate breakfast, too! We drove into Capitol Reef National Park.

Then continued onto the Hickman Bridge trailhead and started on our 2-mile round trip hiking journey.

We started with a climb up stairs, ramps, and rocks (400 ft. elevation gain). We started to feel the heat!

When we finally got to the Hickman Natural Bridge (or maybe now an arch since there isn’t any water under it anymore) it was so cool! You could see it from afar as well as up close.

We crossed under it and looped back around.

There was some lookouts and a small arch we found on our way back.

By the end of our 2-mile hike, it only felt like 1 mile. I had a lot of fun on this hike!

Jaycie’s Bunny Hoppin’ News: My Capitol Reef National Park Highlights

By: Jaycie Lillie, 4/30/23 - 5/1/23

Capital Reef was not what I expected. It wasn't a coral reef, but instead a fault line with a huge monocline. The Mormon settlers called it a reef because it acted like a barrier to them. The definition of a reef is "a ridge of jagged rock, coral, or sand just above or below the surface of the sea". Here are some photos of the monocline:

The Mormon named it “Capitol Reef” because of the large white domes they saw here that resembled the white domes that sit on capitol buildings. Here’s a couple photos of the white domes we saw from one of our hikes:

We went on a hike, and I met some people from Rhode Island. The lady had the same water bottle as me. I held it up and said, “matching!” But the guy was confused. He asked if he picked up the wrong water bottle and said, “How do we know whose is whose?” I told him that the one I had was mine and I was just saying we had the same water bottle. The lady said, “oh I love my water bottle!” They were on a break on the hike. I was resting and didn't do the whole hike. I stopped at a sign and waited for the others. They asked where I was from. I said, “Oklahoma.” He said that that's the one state he hasn't been to. They said they were from Rhode Island. I said, “I have been there, and we went to the zoo!” He said when he was a kid he would walk to that zoo. They asked if I went to Connecticut and the Mystic aquarium. I said yea. I told them we went to the Jersey shore as well. I told them about the trip, and they thought that was cool. They asked my name and then they said their names. They said they better be off and we exchanged, “Bye. Safe travels and nice meeting you!” Then on our way back to the truck they drove by us and said "See ya, Jaycie!" Haha - I made some friends. I ended up running into them 3 times. They were so nice.

We also met some other friends! We sat down for a ranger talk a little early to do some art. They were behind us. We helped them with the map. She had a David Crowder Band shirt on. We told her we liked her shirt!! ☺️We talked to them about the trip and gave them our blog card and they were very nice. Hopefully they are reading this right now! 😆 On another hike the next day we ran into them again. They told us the "tanks" were empty. The tanks are supposed to be pools of water with tadpoles. Well, when we got there it was disappointing but that's ok. Here’s a photo of the empty tank:

We headed back to the camper and had a yummy lunch while watching antique road show. (my new favorite show!) 😊

Capital Reef had many trees. It was an oasis in the desert. The grass grew and the deer were right in front of us!!! There were signs everywhere not to touch them. They looked so fluffy and cute! There was another sign that said mountain lions seen in the areas😳. Of course, I didn't touch them because I don't want to be eaten by mountain lions or be in debt 280 dollars. (That was the fine). We sat at a picnic table and watched the deer for a while but did not touch them.

Together we did art. Jett and I painted the deer using my watercolor paints. Here is what we did - mine:

Here's Jett's painting:

At the Gifford house there was treats! We had to get there early because they sold out fast!! I got a yummy cinnamon roll.

I enjoyed Capitol Reef, seeing the deer, and meeting new people. Thanks for reading!