Today is the third and final day of our Southern Utah Whirlwind National Parks Tour. We set out an ambitious goal to see 3 national parks in one day: Capitol Reef National Park, Canyonlands National Park, and Arches National Park. The weather was looking ominous, and there were dark clouds everywhere. The weather report said it was going to rain, the question was really just where and when.
     Undaunted, we left the hotel about 8:30 as it was only a short ride to the Capitol Reef National Park . The hotel was on Scenic Highway 24, and since Scenic Highway 24 passes directly through the park, it didn't take long to find it. Capitol Reef is a small park, centered around the Fruita Historic District, essentially an old Mormon orchard and farm. UT-24 passes through the park from east to west along the northern border. The park has a 10 mile scenic drive through the old Gifford farm and dead ending some impressive rock formations.
     This area is known for having plenty of water, but is very susceptible to flash floods. As you drive the scenic road, the low points in the road are concrete to prevent getting washed out in a flash flood. During flash floods, red sand washes up on the roadway, and we had to be careful on the bike as several areas had a lot of sand in the road. There were lots of scenic views along the road so we had plenty of opportunities for taking pictures. This is a valley road, so we are in the canyon looking up at all the formations. The formations were spectacular!
     We decided that since there was practically no traffic on the road, and since we had stopped at all the scenic views on the way down the road, that we would ride back non-stop with the GoPro on the handlebars and we video the entire ride back . The video came out great!
     After the scenic road, we went back out onto Scenic Highway 24, and headed east stopping at the various scenic views, but the one we really wanted to see were the ancient Indian Petroglyphs that are carved into the stone canyon walls. These are the "space alien" petroglyphs that have been shown on TV as evidence that space aliens were here before, because the people depicted in the petroglyphs appear to be wearing space helmets. We were able to get some really good pictures of the petroglyphs with the telephoto lens on the camera. Some of the drawings are worn or faded, but it's easy in Photoshop to enhance the pictures when we get back.
     Unfortunately, we were only able to view about half the petroglyphs, as there had evidently been a rockslide that damaged a portion of the viewing walkway. There was yellow tape blocking any further access. Since there were no rangers about, and actually there were only a few visitors, we braved it and crossed the yellow tape. Most of the walkway had been repaired, there was just a short section of handrail that was still broken . So we took more pictures of the remaining petroglyphs, and when we returned to the yellow tape, there was a larger crowd of visitors standing around as we crossed back over the tape. I explained to an older guy who was standing there that I always had trouble with rules, and he just laughed and asked what was wrong with the walkway. I explained, and we headed back to the bike. When we passed by again on the bike, it looks like the entire crowd had crossed the yellow tape and were viewing the remaining petroglyphs.
     The remaining portions of Scenic Highway 24 as far as Hanksville were very scenic and we took lots of pictures. After Hanksville, it became just plain UT-24, and the scenery just faded away. The road was straight and boring, so we just turned on the cruise control, cranked up the tunes, and headed on down the road. Several miles outside of Hanksville, the formations and the mountains began to reappear, but it was very strange. It was as if someone had taken all the color out of the mountains, and did everything in black & white . The formations looked ugly and dirty without all the beautiful red coloring.
     All the while we are riding, the clouds just kept getting darker and darker. As we start to approach I-70, we can see what looks almost like fog over the landscape in the distance. We knew it wouldn't be fog , but must be rain. We had seen a few sprinkles, but nothing substantial yet. As we turned onto I-70E, the rain seemed a little closer, but as we started to climb up a rise, it was obvious that there was rain on the other side of the mountain. So we stopped and put on our rainsuits and we were sure glad we did. Just as we had anticipated, it was pouring rain on the other side of the mountain.
     Fortunately, we only had to ride about 30 miles on the interstate before we turned south on UT-191S. Once we turned south, the rain began to subside, and by the time we hit the entrance to Canyonlands National Park, it had all but stopped. Canyonlands is a fairly large park, but it is broken into 3 sections by the Greene and the Colorado Rivers . The section we were visiting is called the Island in the Sky because it is essentially located on an 8000 ft plateau, with canyons dropping off all around the sides. There is a 12 mile road that dead ends at the Grand View Point Overlook, so we drove right to the end and took lots of pictures. The canyons dropped off sharply at the edges, and within the canyon floor were further canyon dropoffs. The results were spectacular! You couldn't really see much from the road as it was inland from the edge, but there were several Scenic Overlooks where you could walk over to the railings and see some really awesome views. There were other views that required a longer hike, but we just didn't have the time to do these hikes. There is one in Shafer Canyon where you actually walk down into the canyon from the top, but that looked like an all-day affair.
     By the time we finished with all the overlooks, it was 5:00 and we still had about 100 miles to get to the hotel. So no chance to get to see Arches National Park today . From reading the National Parks book, we probably couldn't have seen much at Arches anyway. Most of the really cool formations require a significant hike to see. So 2 National parks and 1 rainstorm are enough for one day. By the time we got to the hotel, it was 6:30, and for the last half-hour we could see the storm clouds coming back in. But we made it to the hotel before the rain. Tomorrow is supposed to be much better weather.
     As we pulled into the hotel, we were pretty tired from the last few days,and the Subway next door looked fine. But I looked on TripAdvisor, and there was supposed to be aa great little restaurant across the street from the hotel. Sure enough, the food was great. Primavera for Jody and Cajun Shrimp Penne for me. Both were delicious!
     Tomorrow we leave Utah, and make our way southwest to Grand Canyon for a couple of days. After seeing some pretty spectacular canyons in Utah, we are really looking forward to seeing just how grand the Grand Canyon is!

304.3 miles today
14,450.1 miles total

5.444 gallons today
346.981 gallons total