Day 8: Cedar Mesa Campground to Sunglow Campground via Capitol Reef

Dave's doggo Charlie came over to greet us on the morning and tromp over all our breakfast things. Despite the intrusion, I successfully made us blueberry pancakes with maple syrup to fuel our day. The first five miles were brutal, sandy, and rutted.

Sand, sand, and more sand. But at least not for too long.

The sand gave way to pavement and the landscape mellowed out to sandy desert views. As we approached the main part of Capitol Reef National park, vibrant red cliffs towered over us. We worked our way quickly to the "highway" and did a short side hike down a wash into a slot canyon.

One more park!

Not our favorite pavement, but pretty!

Canyon hiking!

As it the day wore on, the sun was hot and overbearing despite the relatively cool temperatures of mid-October. But the climbing and relatively large number of cars felt worth it for the amazing scenery. We had a hard fought bike into the adorable town of Torrey, where we picked up some water from a spigot next to the mercantile and a few limes to garnish our Jim Beam. On our way out of town, a mountain bike outfitter and their guide cheered us on.

Red layers on layers.

Views looking back on Capitol Reef, one of the most underrated national parks.

Then we had one last push into a headwind and the sun with fast moving traffic before we decided to check out aptly named Sunglow campground... which was set against brilliantly orangey lit up rocks as the sun set. Our research had told us this campground was closed to reservations, so we figured we would either find some dispersed camping nearby or just poach the campground. It turned out that there was still one site left which we nabbed 20 seconds before someone else tried to roll in.

Glowy sun as we set up camp.

First dinner with the hot air balloon.

The lovely family from Utah who gave us first dinner.

Sunglow is a gem of a campsite and apparently a favorite of Utah locals. At least, so said the lovely family who invited us for dinner. It turns out that the family is friends with a hot air ballooner and they were all just biding their time until the weather was right for hot air ballooning. This campground also had a great little hiking trail that wound along a mossy stream into a red canyon. We accepted the invitation for dinner and thought of it more as a first dinner, and then prepared our planned meal for our second dinner. Heh.