Trip Report: Capitol Reef Thanksgiving 2013

[sixstringsteve]

This Year's Thanksgiving weekend trip took us to Capital Reef and up into Boulder Mountain. There were some chilly nights but we had some fun times hiking during the day and gathering around the campfire at night. My cousin Mandy came with us, as well as our friend Cody and his dad, Ron. It was foggy for most of the trip and fog is very unusual in this part of the country so it was kind of exciting.

[video=youtube_share;UOIfbpyT9lo]http://youtu.be/UOIfbpyT9lo[/video]

We wanted to do the Upper Muley Twists hike in Capitol Reef. Unfortunately the snow made us turn back early, but we still really enjoyed it.

The fog was out of control. This is looking from boulder mountain across to the La Sals in the distance.

Looking out towards the Henries.

 

[gary78bronco]

I was down there that weekend also. It was crazy how the clouds stayed in the valley, and up on the mountain it was clear and sunny.

 

[Rot Box]

Very nice Steve. Looks like good times

 

[Greg]

That looks like a great trip Steve, I love the Swell and Capitol Reef in the Winter! Love the great mix of intense, deep snow driving & hiking awesome canyons. How were the night time temps? Looks like it was warm enough in the day that the snow and ice were melting off, but I'd imagine it was still pretty cold at night. I want to hike more of Upper Muley Twist myself... love that area.

Any chance you could share the route or roads you drove?

 

[ricsrx]

great trip!

 

[sixstringsteve]

How were the night time temps? Looks like it was warm enough in the day that the snow and ice were melting off, but I'd imagine it was still pretty cold at night.

Night temps were between 5 and 15*. The days hit around 20-45, depending on the day.

Any chance you could share the route or roads you drove?

I can't get Google maps to recognize it. We took the road south that follows the waterpocket fold, up the switchbacks, and then to upper muley. From there, to Boulder, then on up to fish lake, over the top, then home again. Pretty standard route. We fooled around in Fish Lake on some of the side trails, that was a lot of fun.

 

[Paudrhound]

Thanks for sharing, that camp on Boulder looked a little brisk but clean air to sleep in

 

[sixstringsteve]

It was nice to get above all the fog, but that clear air was chilly. Actually, the freeIng fog every night was chilly too.

 

[Greg]

Night temps were between 5 and 15*. The days hit around 20-45, depending on the day.

I can't get Google maps to recognize it. We took the road south that follows the waterpocket fold, up the switchbacks, and then to upper muley. From there, to Boulder, then on up to fish lake, over the top, then home again. Pretty standard route. We fooled around in Fish Lake on some of the side trails, that was a lot of fun.

Sounds perfect Steve! Looks like driving those roads with the snow was one of the best parts, from where I sit!

BTW, your debate about keeping 35's on your Tacoma... I would think with that deep snow driving you did, you've completely justified them. The flotation of big tires and how well the KM2's work in snow should have paid off for you, IMO.

 

[sixstringsteve]

yeah, I wouldn't be able to do the snow portion of these trips in something like a honda CR-V. And I'm really happy with my KM2s in everything except ice. Now that they're siped I hope to have slightly better traction on ice.

 

[Rock Taco]

Looks like a fun trip.

 

[sLcREX]

That looks like a fun trip, thanks for sharing the pics! How many nights did you guys spend out?

 

[sixstringsteve]

3 nights.

 

[spencevans]

Cool trip and great looking pics. I am not a huge fan of the snow but it beats doing nothing

 

[sixstringsteve]

I don't mind snow as much as I mind super low temps (below 15*). No doubt I wish it were summer all the time, but I'm not going to let something like snow prevent me from enjoying the great outdoors.

 

[Gravy]

Excellent edit. I've noticed you've improved on framing and adding shot angles.
Thanks for sharing.

 

[sixstringsteve]

Yeah, I spend more time trying to enjoy the trip vs making a perfect video. One day I'll take a trip where the video is the focus of the trip, but that's so boring.