As part of our visit to Utah (we have been many times) we decided to concentrate on the less famous parks. Capitol Reef was one of them. It is beautiful!! We started at the very interesting and informative Visitor Center and learned about the park and the history of the settlers and the little settlement named Fruita that they founded here. We then did the scenic route and ventured further into the Capitol Gorge which was definitely the highlight of our visit. Beautiful Park!! Not Crowded!! a Definite MUST!!

We really enjoyed the middle national park of the Mighty 5. There was lots of driving but oh was it amazing. The scenic drive is 8 mi one way but is well worth your time. The capital gorge road was closed due to the possibility of rain or bad weather which is often. You can just drive this park and enjoy it. Easy peasy.

We truly enjoyed our visit to Capitol Reef National Park. The best part was eating the pies and cinnamon rolls from Gifford Homestead. The best cinnamon rolls I have eaten and the flakiest pie crust. We ate here both days. The best! The petroglyphs were fun to find and easy to access. We love to search out petroglyphs. The Grand Wash Hike was a perfect first hike at higher elevation. We live near sea level, so we had to acclimate. The hike is quite flat, but very interesting and worth doing. The ranger program - outstanding information about the geology of the area. Do spend some time here.

My husband and I have been traveling to Utah every October to knock out the Mighty 5. This was our third park (We've done Canyonlands and Arches as well) and it was absolutely beautiful. We went the third week of October and it was the very lsat week of the tourist season. In fact, most of the restaurants in town were closing, or had already closed, for the season. They even had the first snowfall of the season while we were there. If I had it to do over again, we probably y would have gone at the beginning of October instead for these reasons. The park itself was wonderful, our favorite hikes were Cassidy Arch and Chimney Rock, We only had two days to hike the park and it was plenty of time to do all the hikes we wanted. I do wish we had time to go to Goblin State Park as well since we were in the area, but unfortunately we had to skip it. Overall, great hiking experience.

Fantastic few days in Capitol Reef National Park in late October - the first of our big 5 road trip. Hiking & views were superb. We arrived in the afternoon and just drove around, amazed by the stunning views, colours & rock formations - something we had not experienced previously. Excellent advice from the park ranger & we hiked Cassidy Arch, Rim Overlook Trail, Hickman Bridge in a day, together with wandering around the Fruita district. Enjoying the pies at Gifford homestead is a must. We stayed in Torrey & had overnight snow but were still able to hike the Grand Wash early the next day - virtually had it to ourselves. So pleased we added Capitol Reef to our trip

Arrived hotel at 2am with -4°F and only a few hours sleep but still up early to explore since I was on tight schedule. I spent a whole day non-stop exploring and well worth the effort. The best part was capital gorge scenic drive but plenty spectacular scenery to take in. It seems less crowded than other parks, not sure if it was too cold and snowy during winter plus less options on food and accommodations in this area but I kinda like it.

This park was actually really cool. It was freezing in the morning, but warmed up really quickly. We drove the whole scenic drive in about an hour. We didn’t get the chance to go on any walks or hikes, but I wish we could’ve. We did visit the Gifford homestead, and it didn’t really live up to its reputation. The cinnamon rolls were not great and the frosting was made of cream cheese. The apple pie wasn’t standout either. The view from this park were awesome, and you definitely shouldn’t skip this park.

Unfortunately Capital Reef has been found! You Use to enable to come to this park and it wasn’t crowded,now all popular areas are full. Go early if you want to do the popular hikes, still incredibly beautiful area.

Beautiful views. Good variety of hikes. Parking lots are small so expect them to fill up later in the day. Good for families and camping. Remember to buy some pie early in the day before they run out.

I've been wanting to see this park for many years. Unless you're 4 wheeling, the park is restricted to about a 12 mile road in the valley. I was underwhelmed, particularly after visiting Arches & Canyonlands.