Land of the Sleeping Rainbow

For some reason, some of the "portrait" oriented photos got cropped, so to see them in full, go here FOR FULL PICTURES and press the little "full screen" button at the top-right corner of the black box.

This past weekend, we went on a trip to Capitol Reef Ntl. Park, aka the "Land of the Sleeping Rainbow". We went with some friends, the H Clan. When we arrived at the campground around noon, the campground was full. So...we went driving around and found a delightful primitive camp spot right on the river, under huge cottonwood trees. That evening we hiked Grand Wash, then cooked dinner around the campfire. The next morning (for those who really wanted restrooms) we packed up and moved camp to the campground. We got a good spot, though the whole place was quite crowded. We had some lunch then hiked the Hickman Bridge trail, followed by a splashing afternoon at the "Fremont Falls". That evening, after dinner, we did the scenic drive to Capitol Gorge. When it was finally dark enough, we got out the glow-sticks for the kids. The next morning, Wildman was up quite early, and decided to do a quick trail from the campground, the "frying pan" trail. Wildkid and I followed about an hour later, leaving a still-sleeping group behind. After the monstrous switchbacks the first mile, we leveled out at the mouth of a hidden canyon, known as Cohab Canyon. Still no sign of Wildman, who I guessed was following the trail over to Cassidy Arch. The canyon was spectacular in the morning light. I will go back again to hike the whole thing. Talk about hiking through rainbows! I was surrounded by orange,red, white,brown, and tan towering cliffs....but hiking on a lavender trail with tumbled yellow boulders the size of cars on all sides of us. Interspersed through the yellow boulders were black roundish lava rocks. It was stunning. Pictures don't do it justice...and I didn't have our good camera...Wildman had it. When we got bakc to camp, we packed up and headed east towards Hanksville. We stopped to gather multi-colored sands for soem sand jars, then headed home. We had a wonderful trip, and I discovered some new trails I will do next time I'm in the area.