We left Green River with the wind still howling, but with our tanks full of gas, we felt ready to take it on.

Green River is a pretty sad sight of a town that was thriving at one time before the freeway. Now, it is run down, with many closed and boarded up businesses. The surviving ones are only there due to tourism, with the most visited being motels. In a short block there were all the biggies in the motel industry, Best Western, Comfort Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Ramada Inn and Motel 6. I was amazed to see most of them full!

We grabbed a bite in the morning and some coffee and got on the windy road, desiring space between us and Green River, UT.

The first 60 or so miles was nothing but open desert, high winds and not much else, but then after Hanksville, which did indeed have gas, the terrain still arid, developed scenically.

Then Capitol Reef NP… This was hands down my favorite place on our tour.

Capitol Reef National Park comprises 378 square miles of colorful canyons, ridges, buttes, and monoliths. About 75 miles of the long up-thrust called the Waterpocket Fold, extending like a rugged spine from Thousand Lake Plateau southward to Lake Powell, is preserved within the park boundary. Capitol Reef is the name of an especially rugged and spectacular part of the Waterpocket Fold near the Fremont River. This park, though a desert park, had water running and canyons of Juniper and orchards, in a Mormon developed area called Fruita. It was gorgeous.

petroglyphs from the Fremont people, 9th century Native American Indians

Tent Caterpillars filled the trees and dropped all over, they were everywhere and actually kinda eerie.