Capital Reef, last but not least.

Its a bit of a drive from Bryce to Capitol Reef along Scenic Route 12. Huge canyon but dull, they must save all the colours for the parks.

This road was built by hand during the depression but because the rock was so hard it's called the million dollar road due to the time it took and amount of dynamite needed. Again, note lack of colour.

Some of the views along the way showed why it's called a scenic route. Lots of high hills and lovely valleys along the drive.

By the time we got to the park it was getting late so we spent a relaxing night at a nearby Inn. Good timing, they are closing for the season in a couple of days.

We're in the park and off on our first hike. This park is lower than Bryce and much warmer.

In the heart of the park is the old Mormon town of Fruita. It was named that because the climate was so moderate that they planted all kinds of fruit trees like pears, peaches and apples. The park keeps the orchards up and fruit can be eaten in season, of course we're not in season. Oh well, The cottonwoods are still lovely this time of year.

The specialty of this park are the driving routes which take you through some amazing canyons. A quick oil check is in order.

What a great place to take a jeep. Bumping over dry washes and dodging rock piles is right up its alley. And such scenery.

At the end of this canyon is a great wash that, over time, has eroded rocks along the river bed like this one. Notice the arches in the rock. No names are indicated so we're calling them the Lemire Arches. After all, we found them.

This canyon overhangs the trail which made the jeep kinda nervous.

This trail had high cliffs which we just squeezed through. If it started raining we'd be outta here right quick. This shows that all of the parks we've visited have very unique features. None of the other parks had such great trails to drive.

Huge straight cliffs with incredible colours. What a fun drive.

This huge feature is called the Egyptian palace. It looks like the columns placed so close together that hold up some of the most recognized egyptian palaces.

This is another feature that I thought looked a lot like the huge statues at Abu Simbel in Egypt. They should have called this the Egypt park.

But the park was named after this giant rock. It looks like the Capitol building, thus Capitol Reef. I think it looks a bit like Jabba the Hut.

As we're leaving the park we drive through Fruita again. What a lovely oasis amongst all the rugged canyons and high cliffs.

Along the route back to Cedar City we saw some rugged terrain but little colour. I named this the mennonite range. Substantial but not allowed to be flashy. Even the trees aren't allowed to show off. We've planned this expedition for months to see the 5 famous parks in Utah and they haven't disappointed. I guess what surprised me the most was how different each park was. We have a bit of travel still and hopefully something worth blogging about before we get to our winter home. Stay turned, just in case.