Capital Reef National Park

Apr 7, 2025

Spurned the coffee at our cruddy hotel in Green River and drove on to the next town, which isn’t a small task. Hanksville was the first sign of life 80km down the road. It’s like being in outback Queensland. There are literally no services, towns or houses for an hour at a time, and yet you are traveling on a 4 lane road. The sign in Hanksville said that the next service was in 240km. And there was a girl hitchhiking! And yet, it was one of the nicest moments of the trip for me so far. We paid for our purchases with a very friendly guy, and sat out in the sun on a bench in front of the servo, drinking our vanilla lattes, watching people come and go, bopping along to the bootscootin music on the speakers, and just soaked up the vibe, Lovely.

Drove on to Capital Reef National Park. A small one, and not that well frequented (read – you didn’t get trampled over). When the Mormons settled in the area in the 1880s, 11 families built houses on the banks of the Fremont River in the middle of absolutely nowhere. They had to be incredibly self reliant, and so developed a whole gravity fed irrigation system, and planted lots of crops, including a large variety of fruit trees, many of which are still alive today. Fruit has changed so much over the years that these original trees are referred to as remnant varieties. It became a fruit growing district, and in a typical display of creative thinking they named the town Fruita.

The area was declared a National Monument in 1937, and later a National Park, and the original orchids, houses and school have been preserved as a memorial to their industry.

Drove out to Grand Wash, a river gully between two high canyon walls. Lots of signs telling you to get out of there if it looks like raining. Walked down the Wash for some distance, marvelling at the colours and structures in the steep walls.

Had lunch in a park under some incredibly old Cottonwood trees that were there when the Mormons arrived. They nailed mailboxes to the trunks, and the mail delivery guys used it as the exchange depot between relays.

Then drove across the Boulder Mountains through several passes above the snow line. One minute you were basking in the sun, and the next minute it was snowing and you were dodging ice on the road.

Arrived at Ruby’s Inn at the entrance to Bryce Canyon at 4pm. Its a huge undertaking. In 1916, Ruby Syrett brought his family to the wilds of Southern Utah, and established a ranch near the present site of Ruby’s Inn. He was so impressed with the Canyon that in 1919 he obtained permission to build a lodge. It started as a rustic hut for intrepid adventurers to get a bed and meal as they explored Bryce Canyon, and has gradually expanded over the years. Now they basically have a lock on anything near the park entrance. There are three hotels of varying standards and prices, a number of restaurants, petrol station, post office, general store, tours, rides and all manner of other things. It’s now operated under the Best Western banner, but is still run by Ruby’s grandchildren.

We checked in to the same accommodation a few doors down from the room that we had 20 years ago, and decided to treat ourselves to a lovely dinner in the restaurant. The food was great, but it rankled a bit to find that the prices didn’t include state tax or tourist tax, and then they levied a ‘suggested’ tip of 22% on the lot. I thought that inflating your already large tip by levying it on undisclosed taxes was a bit over the top.

Bryce View Inn