Day 56 – 58: TORREY

Torrey is another village that is too small to be in the AAA Book.  It is a cute village with a few art galleries.  We stayed here for three nights and visited CAPITAL REEF NATIONAL PARK.

April 28 – 30^th: We stayed at Thousand Lakes RV Park.  I do not know why it is called that.  I did not see any lakes nearby.  This park is small with about 50 sites. It is an okay park.  The restrooms and laundry room are old and rustic and needs work.  Only one shower.  Our site felt spacious.  We only had a neighbor on one side of us and there was a lot of space between us.  

The one good thing about this place is as we pulled in beside the office to check in I noticed a small building attached to one side of the main building that said, in big letters, HAIR.  It was a hair salon (by appointment only) run by the sister-in-law of the woman running (and owner) of the RV park.  It’s been 5 weeks and it was time for a hair color.  I was wondering if Torrey or the next town we stop at, as small as they are, would have any hair salons.  I made an appointment for the next day and got my hair done and all is well with the world.

As small as this town is, it is a tourist town for the national park.  So there are several restaurants here and they all look nice.  We tried one that was near the RV park on our first night and the food was excellent.   Capital Reef Inn and Café is a small place, but it is nicely decorated and very comfortable and the food was so good that we also ate here the next night for Dave’s birthday.

h Dinner on the 1^st night

h Happy Birthday Dave steak dinner

CAPITAL REEF NATIONAL PARK

Capital Reef was named for reef like cliffs capped by white Navajo sandstone formations that have eroded and now resemble the dome of the US Capital. Inside the NP is the remains of Fruita, an early Mormon pioneer settlement.  Several of the fruit trees are still there and the homestead is now a small craft shop and bakery with the best fruit pies!

hThe Castle

 Grand Wash Road – This unpaved road goes through a lot of washes.  There could be flash floods during storms.

 hThat’s Navajo Knobs in far background.

h Holes in a rock – can you find Slowpoke?

h Another hole in a rock.

 Capital Gorge Road – another adventure on an unpaved road.

 h View of Golden Throne (7042 ft) in far distance

At the end of the road, Dave hiked 1 mile to below the Tanks (on map) and 1 mile back.  The trail was steep so I stayed in the car and relaxed and read my book.  The next 4 pictures are from that hike.

The below is a wall of graffiti by pioneers in the 1800's 

This is near the historical homestead of Fruita. 

Boardwalk trail to view the petroglyphs.

This was interesting.  A big chunk of rock chipped off of this cliff.  It looks like it broke apart and slid down to the base of the cliff.  

 

 Navajo Knobs

Our next stop will be Cannonville where we will visit Bryce Canyon National Park.