Click here to view an album of day 4.
In the town of Torrey, UT we stayed at the luxurious Chuckwagon Lodge. It apparently is very popular with the 60 something ATV crowd, who were hogging the entire parking lot with their giant trucks and trailers.
We stopped to check out Chimney rock.
The ground was littered with crystals.
We arrived at Capitol Reef National Park not knowing what to expect, we included it on our itinerary so that we could drive up HWY 12. It was amazing. You drive through the canyon on the dry river bed with walls of rock towering over you. In some places there were piles of rock debris around the bottom. 
In the face of the rock are the remnants of coral. (From perhaps during the flood? I don't ask questions about time lines I just enjoy the beauty.)
We drove to the end and then got out and hiked in a bit further. It was perhaps our favorite place.
Family photo in front of a fruit orchard in Capitol Reef.
From Capitol Reef we had a decision to make. Take the easy way on a nice, boring highway or pursue adventure and perhaps certain death (well hunger and thirst) on the partially paved, rarely traveled Nottem Road.
What did we choose? Adventure.
While it did provide some beautiful sites, an oyster bed in the middle of the desert and the opportunity to see Glen Canyon and take a ferry over Lake Powell, it was also a wee bit bumpy. I think that all together we were traveling the Nottem Road for almost 3 hours. Here is a taste.
At some point along this road Brian said "I don't think may people come this way." We only saw about 5 other cars.
In the town of Torrey, UT we stayed at the luxurious Chuckwagon Lodge. It apparently is very popular with the 60 something ATV crowd, who were hogging the entire parking lot with their giant trucks and trailers.
We stopped to check out Chimney rock.
The ground was littered with crystals.
We arrived at Capitol Reef National Park not knowing what to expect, we included it on our itinerary so that we could drive up HWY 12. It was amazing. You drive through the canyon on the dry river bed with walls of rock towering over you. In some places there were piles of rock debris around the bottom. 
In the face of the rock are the remnants of coral. (From perhaps during the flood? I don't ask questions about time lines I just enjoy the beauty.)We drove to the end and then got out and hiked in a bit further. It was perhaps our favorite place.
Family photo in front of a fruit orchard in Capitol Reef.
From Capitol Reef we had a decision to make. Take the easy way on a nice, boring highway or pursue adventure and perhaps certain death (well hunger and thirst) on the partially paved, rarely traveled Nottem Road.What did we choose? Adventure.
While it did provide some beautiful sites, an oyster bed in the middle of the desert and the opportunity to see Glen Canyon and take a ferry over Lake Powell, it was also a wee bit bumpy. I think that all together we were traveling the Nottem Road for almost 3 hours. Here is a taste.At some point along this road Brian said "I don't think may people come this way." We only saw about 5 other cars.
We arrived at the ferry dock at 2:55 which was pretty good timing considering that the ferry left at 3:00 and the next one would required a two hour wait or a one hour backtrack.
Next stop Natural Bridges National Monument. We were able to see a few of the bridges from lookout points right on the road and then we hiked down into the canyon to see this one. It was worth it.
One lesson that we learned was if the speed limit changes to 5mph, slow down. We were just driving along without a care when all of a sudden we came down the side of a mountain with a severe drop off and no rail to keep you from, dropping off. It did provide a nice vista of the Valley of the Gods though.
That night we dined in the town of Mexican Hat named after this rock formation that looks like an upside down sombrero. 
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