Fortress Of Solitude

Utah’s Capitol Reef National Park serves up stupendous red rock scenery—without the frustrating summertime crowds you’ll encounter at other nearby parks.

KELLY BASTONE

Maybe it’s my rumbling stomach, but as I gaze across the sandstone domes surrounding the lofty Cassidy Arch Trail in Utah’s Capitol Reef National Park, I’m reminded of candy. The blond rock formations look like 400-foot-tall nuggets of caramel—or maybe gumdrops, given their rounded tops. Infatuated with the view, or just the notion of sugar, I stop hiking and simply stand in the middle of the cliffside path so I can cast my eyes across the sea of amber knobs and gullies. This sudden halt would never work in most national parks, where popular trails see so much traffic that stopping mid-current is akin to stalling in a passing lane on I-25. More than 4.3 million people visited Rocky Mountain National Park last year, and 4.5 million visited Zion, about…

You're reading a preview of

5280 Traveler (Digital) - 1 Issue, 2019

DiscountMags is a licensed distributor (not a publisher) of the above content and Publication through Zinio LLC. Accordingly, we have no editorial control over the Publications. Any opinions, advice, statements, services, offers or other information or content expressed or made available by third parties, including those made in Publications offered on our website, are those of the respective author(s) or publisher(s) and not of DiscountMags. DiscountMags does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, truthfulness, or usefulness of all or any portion of any publication or any services or offers made by third parties, nor will we be liable for any loss or damage caused by your reliance on information contained in any Publication, or your use of services offered, or your acceptance of any offers made through the Service or the Publications. For content removal requests, please contact Zinio.