Day 33: Capitol Reef National Park to Hanksville

May 31, 2010

It was 55F in my tent early in the morning. Pleasantly cool. I was up at 7:50 and on the road at 9:30. Today should be an easy day. I made several stops on the way out of the park. The orchards, pictographs, and schoolhouse are all very close to highway 24.

Hickman Natural Bridge is a 2-mile round trip hike. All uphill to the bridge. It's a nice hike and the natural bridge is impressive.

Hickman natural bridge. The opening underneath is 125 feet high and 133 feet wide.

Fremont river in Capitol Reef National Park.

A couple miles farther down the road I stopped to hike to the Grand Wash narrows. The trail goes much farther but I hiked 3 miles round trip to see the narrows area.

I did both of these hikes during my 1992 Utah bike tour. Everything is pretty much the same now. The main change at the park is that many of the formerly neglected orchards have been revived.

Behunin cabin. A family of 10 lived in this tiny cabin.

Painted hills in the Fremont river canyon.

It was 3 PM by the time I left the park. The late start and hikes are slowing me down. I still have another 30+ miles to Hanksville. But it's downstream with a tailwind. Soon after leaving the park the predominant rock color changes from red to gray and yellow.

Swimming hole on the Fremont river just outside Capitol Reef National Park.

The rocks change shape and color a few miles east of the park.

I camped at the only campground in Hanksville (4300 feet elevation). Commercial, $15 with a free shower and an AC power pole at my site. That's nice because I need to charge several batteries. Hanksville is a tiny town but it has all the services - motels, restaurants, grocery store. The evening was warm but very windy. In the evening two eastbound touring cyclists arrived. They are from England, riding cross country. They pedaled from San Francisco to Hanksville in 18 days. They are traveling MUCH faster (and more direct) than me.

Today had a high temperature of 90F but the strong wind kept it from feeling very hot. Tailwind as usual...

My cyclocomputer is now unreliable. The switches have a habit of closing even when I'm not pressing the switches. So the computer eventually goes into set modes and locks up. The switches got steadily less reliable during the period of blowing sand.

Distance: 42 mi. (67 km)

Climbing: 1050 ft. (318 m)

Hiked 5 mi. (8 km)

Today's ride: 42 miles (68 km)
Total: 1,472 miles (2,369 km)

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