Friday (5/29)  We went to Capitol Reef National Park today.   We took a two-hour ranger guided tour to Hickman's Bridge (see picture)  at 8 am that was very informative.  We learned that a hollowed out spot in the rock made by water is a bridge and a hollowed out spot in the rock made by wind is an arch.  That is why yesterday's park is called Arches because the formations are made by wind.  In Capitol Reef Park most of the formations are made by water.   Two totally different looking parks.  This park is quieter than the other parks we have been in and they say more people from Utah visit it than any other park because it is beautiful and not crowded.

Capitol Reef is a very long and narrow park running north to south.   Running east to west, just about in the middle, is a valley.   This valley was farmed by the Mormons in the late 1800s right up to 1969.  At that time, the last of the Mormons sold their land to the National Park Service. There were never more than ten families living there and they depended on each other for survival.   They lived in very meager homes such as the one in this pictures which was the home of 12 people.  The boys actually did not sleep in the home.  They slept in hollowed place in the side of the rock wall (see picture.)  They girls slept in the bed of the family wagon.

We followed the Scenic Drive in the middle of the park to Capitol Gorge - a long and narrow dirt road right into the heart of the stone formations that are several hundred feet high (see picture.)  You get a real close look at the rock formations and a real sense of how big they are. 

Tonight we are going back to the amphitheater for a talk on astronomy.  I am sure it will be very interesting.