Our day started with a 5:45 alarm for a 6:24 sunrise on the rim. It was a brisk 34 degrees with a slight breeze. There is a Sunrise Point viewing area, but honestly there isn’t a bad spot on the rim. It was challenging trying to keep the body heat up while waiting on that big orange ball to make its appearance. (And … note to self: when you’re at 7000-8000 feet, it takes a little longer for that big orange ball to come up over the horizon. So next time, sleep a few minutes longer.) Eventually, I started to see light shining on the cliffs across the canyon and once it started it was like magic watching the progression. It was a clear morning so not filled with color but still absolutely gorgeous and worth every shiver.

We ate some breakfast in the room, packed up and hit the road for Capitol Reef. After hearing about Scenic Highway 12 for years we anticipated some amazing views along the 2-1/2 hour journey (of course it takes longer because we stopped so often for pictures) to our destination. It truly is fascinating how drastically the landscape changes in just a few miles. From rolling rocky hills dotted with little green bushes determined to thrive, to slot canyons where you literally are driving through rocks, to red and white formations so enormous it’s mind boggling to snow still on the ground in some places. Honestly throughout most of this drive I took more video than still shots simply because a snapshot couldn’t do it justice. (Note: if you’ve read scary tales about driving Highway 12 and how it’s so winding, steep and narrow … don’t believe it. It was totally fine. People who write that kind of nonsense must be new to driving mountain roads and/or be drama kings/queens. Just sayin’.)

Bob had read about the Gifford House just down from the Visitor’s Center inside the park. They are known for their pies. So of course we had to grab one to try and add to our lunch fare. There is a beautiful little oasis park across from the house strewn with picnic table for just that purpose. We picked one and had our lunch surrounded by the cliffs of Capitol Reef.

After lunch we drove the 7 mile scenic road with many stops along the way.

It was time to double back to out hotel, The Noor Hotel on Rt 24. It’s an older place but gets great reviews on customer service and being clean. Plus it has it’s own Mexican restaurant on site (La Cueva Restaurant and Grill) that gets great reviews! What’s not to love? After checking in and regrouping we did just that – went for a real Mexican meal – we’ve been doing a lot of “noshing” so this hit the spot.

Panorama Point in Capital Reef is supposed to be a great place to see the sun set. We hopped back in the car around 7:30 and drove the less than 10 minutes there for an 8:22pm sunset. As expected there were some cars already ahead of us. But from what we could see, it wasn’t going to be what we were hoping. The only way you can get a really good picture is if the sky, clouds and color all come together in magic. Tonight it did not. Thankfully, we were only 10 minutes from our room so no big deal. But I did get this cool shot while waiting …

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