Kodachrome to Factory Butte

We left Kodachrome State Park and headed into the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Park. We managed to travel just 150 miles today. When you are on the “most scenic road in the US,” you have to stop at every pullout and take pictures.

Our route took us through Grand Staircase-Escalante and the Dixie National Forest to Boulder, then up to Torrey where we headed east into Capital Reef National Park. It is fascinating as we drive to watch the changing colors of the various layers of the rocks. Parts of the trip took us up to 9000 feet with lots of aspen and pine. We had views of the farm land in the valley which looked lush. Lots of cattle and since the are is free range, many were crossing the road as we drove. They seemed to wait on the side of the road and dash across just as we arrived.

We had planned to stop at the Fruita campground in Capital Reef, but, as expected, the campground was full. We would have had to get there early in the day to get a site.

We continued east and found a campsite, by ourselves, at the Factory Butte – Swing City OHV BLM site. Camping is free and on a Sunday night no one is here. It is a strange badlands of gray, ashy sand and gravel. It is fun to look at the patterns on the buttes and hill to see where the bikes and ATVs have been playing.

During dinner we were entertained by 4 off-road bikers climbing the hills and jumping from the moguls. It was absolutely amazing the height and distance they were able to get as they jumped. This couldn’t have been a nicer place to spend the night.

-- Janet (text) and David (photos)