Started in: Bryce Canyon National Park, UT
Ended in: Moab, UT
Total Distance: Hiking: 2 miles, Driving: 270 miles
Today was filled with lots of driving. We woke up this morning still at Bryce Canyon. It was really nice to stay somewhere for two nights. It’s not a ton of work putting up the tent but it's definitely easier to leave it up! We hit the road around 10 to Capitol Reef NP. On the way there, we stuck mostly to state and U.S. highways, occasionally passing through small towns. Because we were driving on a Sunday morning, each town we passed had an LDS temple on the main road crowded with cars. We might have been the only car on the road.
We hiked a little at Capitol Reef, but not much, about 2 miles. We hiked so much yesterday and most of the terrain is hilly so it leaves us midwesterners exhausted. J loved Capitol Reef because there was a pie shop in the park with homemade pies, he enjoyed a mixed berry pie and some ice cream. We also learned that Capitol Reef is an after dark park, which means it is a prime location for stargazing, you can checkout the criteria here (Grand Canyon and Canyonlands are also a dark park). Then we hit the road again to Canyonlands NP just outside of Moab, UT. The temperature just kept rising as we drove. The campgrounds at Canyonlands are first come, first serve so unfortunately there were no sites by the time we got there. We ended up staying at a hotel in Moab because it was just so hot and we didn’t have enough cash for the other campsite… Our plan is to get there early tomorrow and stay there for two nights (Arches NP is renovating their campground and it is not open).