Capitol Reef Day 1: Easter Sunday and Cassidy’s Arch

We arrived Saturday night and the campsite was perfect.  Situated in a green valley, the campsite was clean, quiet and not overly crowded.  There were trees that offered shade during the day and grassy fields to enjoy the stars at night. We quickly made dinner, the kids went off exploring and Martin and I tried to figure out how the hell we were going to hide easter eggs in the van for the following morning. 

The kids awoke Sunday morning and both agreed to not look for eggs until both had come down from the top sleeping area.  It took them all of two minutes to find the eggs and open their Easter Bags (recently purchased to pack flat) where they found their new 35mm film cameras. Not to brag (but I will) the cameras were deemed the best presents ever!  The kids immediately wanted to understand how they worked and took pictures throughout the rest of the trip. 

We celebrated Easter with a proper Sunday brunch of scrambled eggs and croissants and then, similar to all previous parks, headed to the visitors center for the obligatory Junior Ranger Book and for guidance on what and where to hike.   While Oskar and Alva wanted to hike Cohab Canyon (they had discovered the trailhead just outside of our campsite the previous night) we opted for Cassidy’s Arch with a promise to hike Cohab Canyon before we left the following day.  

We made our way to the trailhead, parked the van, made a few trips between the van and trailhead (once again in need of hats, sunglasses, snacks and toilet paper for the outhouse) and finally started the hike. Within an hour, we all agreed that we really loved this park.  It had all of the scenery of the others, the red rocks, large boulders, dramatic cliffs and half the number of people.  And while I didn’t love the sheer drop offs from those dramatic cliffs (and my stress level was definitely the highest on this hike), I did love the general feeling of the place and would have loved to spend a few more time there.   For some reason everything just felt easier. 

We had a mellow afternoon reading at the campsite and Martin took the kids to play in the river before calling it a night.