<– Day 14 – March 31: From Wolverine Loop to Cathedral Valley | Overview | Day 16 & 17 – Burgers and the Terra Tires Challenge –>
The rising sun at Cathedral Valley Campground.
After a night of light rain, we woke up to sun and clouds. I wished we had a few days to relax, jeep and hike, but we had to return to Salt Lake to have an April Fools’ dinner in the evening with my kids, so we broke camp early in the morning.
Cathedral Valley in the morning. Capitol Reef National Park.
To leave Cathedral Valley we had two options. We could go back the way we came (drive south then take the highways north) or head north towards I-70 and hope we could make it. The day before I asked the National Park Ranger if the roads led all the way to I-70. He said we could make it if we knew what we were doing and had a map of the area.
I felt we knew what we were doing, but we lacked an accurate map. Still, I figured we could make it without a map, because we had tall mountains on our left and the San Rafael Swell on our right. And, we had a compass. We had food, gas and water. All we had to due was keep heading north.
As we packed up camp for the drive north, a miracle occurred. I had thought I packed only one map: a general map of the US. It turns out that I had packed a second map: a map of the San Rafael Swell area. That map showed all the roads we needed to take in order to reach I-70. With the guess work out of it, we could relax and enjoy the trip a little more.
Our drive through Cathedral Valley.
Before we left the park, we stopped at a spot called the Gypsum Sinkhole. I didn’t see any gypsum, but there was a big hole. You can just see Ann’s shadow at the edge of the shadow.
Gypsum Sink Hole in Cathedral Valley, Capitol Reef National Park.
