capital reef

Vacations at Capital Reef are one of my favorite memories. We started going when I was 13 or so with the entire Bagley family. Our vacations included riding bikes to Boulder, mnt. biking on top of Boulder Mnt., hiking, picking fruit, jumping into Upper Calf Creek, jumping off Freemont Falls, and swimming with cousins. I took Justin and the kids there about four years ago and we loved it. I wanted to make sure we went this year. It will be fun to do more things as the kids get older. Justin's parents have a RZR so we added that to the mix.

Cody has been nicknamed "the finder" since this trip. He found our awesome campsite, found Justin's lost wallet, the lost rzr keys, and a couple other things I can't remember. We've made a big deal about it and now he finds everything for us and he's really proud of his new role as "finder".

We were told a good place to take the RZR was Thousand Lakes Mountain. I was more than I had bargained for with the baby in tow. But I had her snuggled up in a sling for the ride up. We went up stuff no jeep could ever make, and she slept the whole time.
After about 7 miles we came to a dead end with some really crazy rock formations. We played around for a while and then went back to camp.

My parents came the next day and rented a cute cabin about five minuted from where we were camping. The nights were COLD! Tay did great the first night, not great the second night and I slept in my mom and dad's cabin the third night with TayTay. I am really surprised that it was actually my idea to take the family camping!


My dad has this 20 mile bike ride he loved down here but I had never done it. We drove up the scenic route towards Boulder, pulled over and he pointed out our route. My parents and the kids followed us on the RZR for the first 5 miles where we pulled over and explored a slot canyon.

In years past the water is low enough to jump in a swim. Not this year.

It was a fun date! I love getting really far away from everything. And the scenery was amazing. We started on Boulder Mountain and ended up in Capital Reef.

On Sunday we did a little sightseeing. Freemont Falls is now closed to the public but we hiked to it anyway. We used to love jumping off here.

Capital Reef was settled by Mormon pioneers. There are many original buildings still there, as well as historic fruit orchards. This is one of my favorite places. One of the homes has been turned into a store and museum where we get pie and ice cream. The kids loved riding bikes through the leaves while we lounged in the sun.


It was fun to have my parents there too, though it may have been a little stressful for my mom with the danger factor. Next trip with them will be to Hawaii ok?