PICTURE 1 - Panarama Point 'Capital' in Capital Reef describes the high white domes like in Washington DC. A 'reef' is an old western term for something 'sticking out'. Not a mesa or butte, mind you. And, the 'bend and break' that we mentioned above is shown here, crossing the highway from left/north to right/south. So, when you drive the highway, you're like a miner cutting through millions of years of rock ... in your car!!


PICTURE 2 - Chimney Rock This is near the west park entrance, and is the Moenkopi Formation. It's the same stuff you've been driving on since Torrey and it's about to suddenly stop! If you're from northern Arizona, the Moenkopi can also be seen in east Flagstaff, and also as you drive down to Cameron. The Painted Desert or 'Chinle' sits on top of it, and so here at Cap-Reef, you'll see hints of the Chinle (grey multicolor rock) above the Moenkopi.


PICTURE 3 - Shinarump What is that?? Well, if you're a uranium prospector, you look for a white-yellowish layer like this. It's sits over top the Moenkopi, discussed above. Shinarump came from a wet climate, where the creeks gathered the hints of uranium or 'yellow-cake'. In Cap-Reef, there's little uranium, but down on the Navajo reservation, the Department of Energy's big headache is closing old Shinarump uranium diggings!


PICTURE 4 - Fun Picture Cap-Reef goes from north to south, along the 'break' in the earth's layers. You can drive along the break and examine all the different formations, and how they eroded. This rock here looks like a petrified underwater dragon! When taking the picture, I noticed 'hundreds' of footprints around it. Obviously, everyone agreed he probably deserved it.


PICTURE 5 - Dragon's Mouth This shot is taken through the mouth of the above monster, looking north along the cliff line. At this point, the huge layers dip deep into the ground to the right; you're looking at the edge of the 'dip'.


PICTURE 6 - Navajo Sandstone As you proceed east, the rocks high above you at the start, are now disappearing below the ground quickly, eventually including the big white layer. Here, we see the namesake of the park, the 'Capitals' or rounded Navajo sandstone. This layer can be seen throughout much of Utah and northeastern Arizona. It comes from a Sahara-like world of sand dunes and limited rain. Goodness was it DRY.


PICTURE 7 - Farm House If you look at the 3-D model in the visitor center, the Fremont river happily cuts right through the 'fold' and continues its merry way down to the Colorado river about 70 miles east. How was that possible?? Well, anyway, the river made a great place for a farm and orchards for early mormon settlers. The house here has a small but nice museum, plus real breakmaking in the kitchen. Figure that!


PICTURE 8 - Old School America was founded on education, and so most small communities still have their old schools. The oddities here are (1) 'how' the people even got here in the first place with a school teacher, and (2) how in heaven's name did they build the highway south of Torrey/Boulder. The latter is a highway you HAVE to drive, if you have the courage that is.