Captiol Reef National Park

Of Southern Utah’s five national parks, Capitol Reef is the neglected sibling, with many visitors skipping it entirely. I skipped it on several previous Utah trips as well. This visit changed my mind. Capitol Reef deserves far more respect and attention than it gets. My conclusion is that Capitol Reef’s relative lack of attention comes down to three things: it is somewhat isolated in the middle of the state, it lacks a single famous icon on the level of Delicate Arch or Angels Landing, and, most importantly, some of its best sights are difficult to access.

The easily accessible core of the park is not especially large. Utah State Route 24 bisects the park, and the Scenic Drive is the other main paved road. The Scenic Drive is well worth taking, but for me the best sights were in Cathedral Valley, the northern district of the park. Reaching Cathedral Valley requires long drives on dirt roads, ideally in a high-clearance four-wheel-drive vehicle.

We had rented an SUV for this trip with the idea of tackling some dirt roads, but it was a crossover, and I concluded it was not up to the task. Rather than risk getting stuck, we chose to take a Cathedral Valley tour with Backcountry Safaris. That turned out to be a great decision. We were the only guests on the tour, and our guide was excellent about stopping wherever we wanted to take photographs.

The Temples of the Sun and Moon are the best-known sights in Cathedral Valley. They sit close to the national park boundary, which allowed me to photograph them by drone from outside the park. They are spectacular, but my favorite part of Cathedral Valley was Upper Cathedral Valley. We saw visitors who had made it to the Temples of the Sun and Moon in crossovers, but Upper Cathedral Valley felt like a place where a true four-wheel-drive vehicle was required.

I highly recommend taking an off-road tour of Cathedral Valley. It was the highlight of the trip for me.