Hell's Backbone Road

     Yesterday's snow melted but we awoke this morning (10/3) to 28 degrees and thick frost covering everything.  We returned to Capitol Reef National Park and took the Scenic Drive down to the Capitol Gorge Road, a dirt road through a narrow canyon.  We had waited a little while for the Capitol Gorge Road to open because it had been closed due to the previous day's rain and the danger of flash flooding.  We then hiked the Capitol Gorge Trail a mile further into the canyon.    

Capitol Reef National Park

 

Capitol Gorge Road

 

 

Capitol Gorge Trail

 

 

       After leaving Capitol Reef we took Scenic Byway 12 over Boulder Mountain (summit 9,600 ft).  At the higher elevations there was snow on the ground.  

Leaving Capitol Reef

 

Larb Hollow Overlook on Hwy 12

 

       We drove 10-15 mph down Hell's Backbone Road which was built by the CCC in 1933 to connect Boulder with Escalante.  A few people had recommended it to Mark as a scenic route that we should take.  It's a 45-mile long, narrow gravel road with lots of twists and turns and changes in elevation.  A lot of it was like  "washboard" so we went slow with the camper and did a lot of bouncing.  We encountered very few other vehicles.  Apparently it's used mostly by ATV's.  It was not especially scenic although we met lots of cows along the way as it was an open range area.  Parts of it seemed like a strange place for cattle to roam because the hills and trees along the road kept the cattle on the edge of the road or in it.  The one scenic area was at a one-lane bridge over a steep gorge.  A little ways past the bridge we stopped at a National Forest campground on Posey Lake.  There were two other vehicles in the campground so we had it mostly to ourselves since it was pretty much out in the middle of nowhere.   

Hell's Backbone Road

 

Hell's Backbone Bridge

 

 

Posey Lake