The park preserves the 100-mile Waterpocket Fold, a mammoth buckling of the earth’s surface (“waterpocket” refers to the potholes that dot the sandstone and fill with rainwater). The park’s name combines the popular term for an uplifted landmass, “reef,” with a visual resemblance of the park’s many white Navajo Sandstone domes to that of the nation’s Capitol Building.
It takes a little more effort to explore Capitol Reef National Park, but here you’ll find fewer people on the wide array of hiking routes to natural bridges and narrow canyons, comfortable campgrounds with pleasant tent sites amid shade trees, and paved and high-clearance vehicle roads that lead to some of the most incredible landscapes in the Southwest. Because there is so much to see and do in this remarkable area, we’ve helped narrow the choices down for you with these helpful suggestions for the must-see and must-do experiences in Capitol Reef. Enjoy!
