Capitol Reef is stunning and snowy, many colors of sandstone beneath a deep blue desert sky.
We hiked deep into Capitol Gorge, where steep canyon walls rose high on both sides. A thousand years ago, ancient artists pecked petroglyphs into the canyon wall here.
Eight hundred years later, pioneers followed in their wake, carving their names and dates into the desert varnish of the sandstone. Dozens of signatures, ranging from the 1870s to the 1920s, cover a section of wall called the Pioneer Register.
Farther into the gorge lie the Water Tanks, deep holes in the rock that hold water all year long, even during the summer. Today they were frozen solid, though desert bighorn tracks still led down to their edges. This entire area was once covered in a lava flow. It added volcanic elements to the already wonderfully strange rocks decorating the mountainside.
Capitol Reef is a beautiful place this time of year, the white of snow against the towering spires and cliffs of sandstone.