The Waterpocket Fold, a 100-mile long wrinkle in the earth's crust, extends 70 miles from nearby Thousand Lake Mountain to the Colorado River (now Lake Powell). Capitol Reef National Park was established to protect this grand and colorful geologic feature, as well as the historical and cultural history that abound in the area.

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General Information

Acreage

Total: 241,904.26 acres
Federal: 222,753.35 acres
Nonfederal: 19,150.91 acres

Visitation

Approximately 700,000 people visit Capitol Reef, primarily between April and October.

Address

Superintendent
Capitol Reef National Park
HCR 70, Box 15
Torrey, UT 84775
E-mail: care_superintendent@nps.gov

Telephone

(801) 425-3791

Operating Hours & Seasons

The park and campgrounds are open year-round. The visitor center is open daily (except Christmas Day) from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. with extended hours during the summer season.

Directions

The park is located in south-central Utah. From Green River, Utah, take Highway 24 west through Hanksville; from Richfield, take Highway 24 east through the communities of Loa, Lyman, Bicknell, and Torrey.

Transportation

To get to the park by personal vehicle or tour bus take Utah Highway 24. The nearest commercial airports are in Grand Junction, Colorado and Salt Lake City, Utah.

Within the park you can use personal vehicle, bike, or hike to get around.

Fees & Rates

The fee for entering the Scenic Drive is $4. Campsites in the 70-site Fruita Campground are $10 per night and are available on a first-come, first-served basis. The Group Campground, on a reservation basis, is $3 per person with a minimum of $30.

Golden Eagle Passport

The Golden Eagle Passport is an entrance pass to any national park, monument, historical site, recreation area, and national wildlife refuge that charges an entrance fee. It is a great convenience for those who plan on visiting several different areas that charge special fees. It is valid for one year from the purchase date. A Golden Eagle Passport may be purchased for $50 at any National Park Service entrance fee area or by mail. To order by mail, send check or money order (no cash, please) to:

National Park Service
1100 Ohio Drive, SW
Room 138
Washington, DC 20242
Attention: Golden Eagle Passport

Where entry is by private vehicle, the Golden Eagle Passport will admit the passholder as well as any passengers. Where entry by private vehicle is not possible, the pass will admit the passholder, spouse, children and parents.

The Golden Eagle Passport will not reduce use fees, such as those for camping, swimming, parking, boat launching, or cave tours. It covers entrance fees only.

Golden Age Passport

The Golden Age Passport is a lifetime entrance pass for those United States residents 62 years or older. These may be purchased at any National Park Service entrance fee area for a one-time processing fee of $10. The Golden Age Passport cannot be purchased by mail or telephone. Proof of age and citizenship or permanent residence must be shown at the time of purchase.

The Golden Age Passport will admit the passholder and any passengers in a private vehicle. When entrance is not via private vehicle, the pass will admit the passholder as well as children, spouse, and parents.

The Golden Age Pass grants a 50 percent discount to the holder on any federal use fees charged for things such as camping, swimming, parking, boat launching, or tours. It does not, however, reduce the price of special recreation permit fees or fees for concessions.

Golden Access Passport

The Golden Access Passport is a free entrance pass to any national park, monument, historic site, recreation area, and national wildlife refuge for those who are blind or permanently disabled. The Golden Access passport may be obtained at any National Park Service entrance fee area. Proof of a medically determined disability and eligibility for receiving benefits under federal law is necessary at purchase.

The Golden Access Passport will admit the passholder and any passengers in a private vehicle. Where entrance is not by vehicle, the pass will admit the passholder, spouse, children and parents.

The Golden Access Passport also provides a 50 percent discount on any federal use fees charged for services and facilities. It does not cover special recreation permit fees or fees charged for concessions.

All passes described above are non-transferable.

Recommended Activities & Park Use

The park is always open, but visitor center hours vary with the season. Activities include auto tours, interpretive exhibits and programs, picnicking, hiking, backpacking, mountain biking on established roads, and rock climbing.

Basic Visit Recommendations

Drive the Scenic Drive along the base of the Waterpocket Fold.

Hike to Hickman Bridge.

See the Petroglyph Panel interpretive pullout.

Walk through the historic orchards of Fruita and pick fruit when its in season.

Special Events & Programs

Visitor Center & Exhibits

Located at Utah Highway 24, the visitor center has many exhibits, a slide show, and book sales.

Trails & Roadways

The park is a haven for backcountry hiking. Many trails are available for people of all abilities and time constraints. Capitol Reef also has a number of scenic roadways, many of them unpaved, that can be taken to all corners of the park. Please call the visitor center and ask about specific trails and roads or visit the electronic visitor center.

Programs & Activities

Summer walks, talks, and evening campfire programs.

Lodging & Camping Facilities

The Fruita Campground contains 70 sites that can accommodate RVs; however, there are no hook-ups. There are also two primitive campgrounds, each with pit toilets, fire grates, and picnic tables (no water). There is no other lodging available in park.

Harvest Homecoming

Held the third Friday in September, Harvest Homecoming celebrates the pioneer legacy and apple harvest of Capitol Reef. A number of demonstrations of pioneer crafts and skills are held during this one-day festival, such as: sheep shearing, quilting, soap and candle making, blacksmithing, wheelwright/wainright demonstrations, meat smoking, and a host of other special programs.

Visitor Impact

Capitol Reef is subject to flash flooding from late June through early October. Flash floods can leave you stranded in a canyon or on a backcountry road. Please check with the visitor center for up-to-date weather and road conditions before you embark to the backcountry.

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History

Called "Wayne Wonderland" in the 1920s by local boosters Ephraim P. Pectol and Joseph S. Hickman, Capitol Reef National Park comprises 378 square miles of colorful canyons, ridges, buttes, and monoliths. About 75 miles of the long up-thrust called the "Waterpocket Fold," extending like a rugged spine from Thousand Lake Plateau southward to Lake Powell, is preserved within the park boundary. "Capitol Reef" is the name of an especially rugged and spectacular park of the Waterpocket Fold near the Fremont River.

Early History

Only a few decades ago, Capitol Reef and the Waterpocket Fold country comprised one of the remote corners of the "Lower 48." Easy road access came with the construction of a paved Utah Highway 24 through the Fremont River Canyon in 1962.

The earliest traces of human activity date from the 9th Century when Native American peoples occupied the flood plains and high ground near the few perennial watercourses. These people, called the Fremont Culture by archeologists, were contemporaries of the pueblo-building Anasazi of the Four Corners area. In the 13th Century, all cultures in this area underwent sudden change; the Fremont Indian settlements and fields were abandoned. No one is sure what happened to these Fremont hunter-farmers.

For several centuries significant human activity did not reappear. When the first white explorers traveled in the vicinity of the Waterpocket Fold, both Utes and Southern Paiute nomads were encountered.

Despite the fact that numerous expeditions passed near Capitol Reef, none of them, including John C. Fremont, explored the Waterpocket Fold. It was, as now, incredibly rugged and forbidding.

Following the Civil War, Mormon Church officials at Salt Lake City sought to establish "missions" in the remote niches of the intermountain west. In 1866, a quasi-military expedition of Mormons in pursuit of marauding Indians penetrated the high valleys to the west. In the 1870s, settlers moved into these valleys, eventually establishing Loa, Fremont, Lyman, Bicknell, and Torrey. Meanwhile, men from the expeditions of Major John Wesley Powell had begun to explore the area.

In the early 1880s, settlers moved into Capitol Reef country. Tiny communities sprung up along the life-sustaining Fremont River in Junction (later "Fruita"), Caineville, and Aldridge. Fruita prospered, Caineville barely survived, Aldridge died.

By 1920, the work was hard but the life in Fruita was good. No more than 10 families at one time were sustained by the fertile flood plain along the Fremont River, and the land had changed ownership over the years. The area remained isolated.

Ancient Cultures

Rock Writing: Pages from the Past

The first Americans left behind material remains of sacred items and everyday belongings, faint traces of their passing in the places they once lived and worked. Clues to the intangible aspects of their lives, though, may lie hidden in ancient "rock writings."

Who Created Capitol Reefs Rock Writing?

The rock writing around Fruita is attributed to the Fremont Culture that occupied this area around 500 to 1300 AD. Fremont artisans had a particular and distinctive style, which can be seen at the Petroglyph Pullout on Highway 24. Most distinctive are "

anthropomorphs" (human-shapes), with their large, trapezoidal bodies, short arms and legs, elaborate headgear, earbobs, and necklaces. Mountain sheep were also a popular motif, and sometimes one will see a hunchbacked "Kokopelli" figure.

What does it mean?

Many Native Americans say that these symbols are still used and can be interpreted in a tribal context. In consultation, some have explained that many of the anthropomorphs have ceremonial significance and indicate that an important ceremony occurred at that location. Other symbols (sheep, paw prints, wavy lines) represent clans and document their migrations, while some are calendars to guide planting and ceremonial schedules.

Symbols inscribed on Fruitas cliffs are highly meaningful to knowledgeable Native American elders and religious specialists. To them, the symbols are communications.

How old is it?

Dating rock images is difficult. Scientific methods depend on plant or animal remains for tree-ring or radiocarbon dating. Petroglyphs, pecked into the rock, have neither. Pictographs, painted with mineral pigment on the rock, rarely have associated tree-rings, but do sometimes have organic materials mixed into the pigment. Dating requires that pigment be scraped off for laboratory analysis, which is destructive to the panel. At Capitol Reef, no rock images have been dated in these ways. Instead, they are "dated" based on their distinctive style. Therefore, we know that the rock images at Fruita date to between 500 and 1300 AD. This range will undoubtedly be narrowed down as archeologists date more Fremont sites at Capitol Reef.

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Reservation Information

The campsites are available on a first-come, first-served basis.

The park takes reservations for the group campground only.

The group campsite is open from April 1 through October 20.

Backcountry hiking permits are required. They are free, and can be picked up at the visitor center. Group size must not exceed 12 people.

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