Cassidy Arch (Capital Reef National Park, Utah)

The next leg of our trip takes Nick and I into Capital Reef National Park. During our exploration of the Pahvant Valley yesterday, the skid plate on our rental car was damaged and we haven't yet been able to get it repaired. We're reluctant to take the car on too many gravel roads with this piece loose and so, we will have to cut our visit here shorter than planned. We will manage to get in one hike though.

Cassidy Arch sits atop a red sandstone cliff overlooking the main north-south road within the park. The hike to it requires us to hiked a ways down the grand wash and then take a side trail, which leads slowly up the cliff. We're here early and so parking wasn't really an issue. After grabbing some water, we head out on our short trek.

The trail is well marked and maintained, but Nick struggles a bit with the uphills. As for me, I'm feeling good and could probably run most of this trail. The views are fantastic and as we make our way around the ins and outs of the cliff, we're exposed to majestic scenes of the desert southwest with all of it's red and orange palates. 

As we make the largest turn, the arch comes into view in the distance on the opposing side of this giant wash. It's been carved by wind and perhaps water into the solid sandstone and now greets the rising sun each morning. Our path to the top of the arch requires a little bit of scrambling, but it's a pretty fun path and we encounter a few others on their way to the arch.

Once we reach the area overlooking the top of the arch, we take a few minutes to breathe in the scenery. A group of twenty-somethings are here as well and from their conversation appear to be planning to do some climbing in and around the arch tomorrow. This is just a scouting trip for them. They wander out on top of the Arch, while Nick and I stay on the main rock face behind it. After a while and exhausting my patience, I ask the youngsters to move so that I can get a shot of the arch without them in it. I'm sure it must have sounded like a "get off my lawn" request, but they apologize and get out of my frame nonetheless.

We leave our young friends to their planning and begin to head back to the car. It's great being out here again. This is Utah and really miss being able to visit this place again. The lands of the desert southwest have always spoken to me and places like this in particular. The beauty and majesty is undeniable. I can only hope the rest of our trip is as magnificent.

The trail carried us about 3.4 miles, which is a pretty good way to start the day. From here, we'll head towards Moab and hopefully, find someone to fix the car. If I had a way to get it off the ground, I could likely fix it myself, but I'm unwilling to risk getting my head crushed should the questionable jack that comes with the car give out while I'm under it. Moab is a booming city and I'm sure we'll be able to get things squared away. For now, we'll say good bye to Capital Reef.