Capitol Reef National Park- September 19, 2012

Today is, grandson, Anthony’s birthday and he is now a teenager at 13.  Happy birthday Anthony!
This morning we started out thinking that we were going to drive through a section of the Capitol Reef Park but plans sometimes change.  We came to a pull-off that was for a natural bridge so we parked and found it was a mile hike to the bridge.  A mile was not that far, so we thought, and so we started walking.  The trail was well marked but there were hills to climb and it became warmer as the morning progressed.  But we made it – a total of 2 miles in 2 hours.  The natural bridge was worth seeing at 128 feet high and 130 feet wide, I believe I have those  numbers right.
After the hike we were ready for lunch and it was after 12 noon.  I had prepared a picnic lunch so we went to the area where we had seen the deer yesterday.  The deer were not there but there were other folks picnicking in the area.  There were 2 huge trees in this area with very knotty trunks that seemed unusual to us.
When lunch was finished we took a drive on Scenic Route 12 south to Boulder.  This drive is through green mountains that had patches of bright yellow Aspen trees.  There were overlooks in which the red cliffs of Capitol Reef National Park was visible.  A very pretty drive.  Free range cattle were the only “wild” life that we saw and they, like the buffalos in previous parks, didn’t hesitate to walk across the roads in front of cars.  In Boulder there is the Anasazi State Park that we stopped at the Visitor’s Center.  A good day but tonight we are feeling that bedtime may come a little earlier.