As our campsite in Loop C, while on our preferred side of the loop, was quite open to the sun and it was next to the road to the amphitheater parking lot, we decided to move. Fortunately, several of the sites further down in our row were leaving in the morning, so, although we weren't able to take the one we had last time, we moved to one overlooking a field and had a fair amount of shade (except late in the afternoon). It is also next to the point where one of the irrigation pipelines from the river empties into an irrigation canal, so we have the sound of gurgling water behind the site.
We moved in, I set up the REI Alcove, a tent shelter, over our unshaded picnic table, for the first time this trip, an indicator that we might stay a while. After getting settled, we broke out our bikes for the first time since the Tetons and rode over to the visitor center to pick up information on the various hikes as well as the park brochure and a trail map (and a bird list of course).
Returning to our campsite, we stopped at the Gifford Farmhouse, where they now had pie and scones. We picked up a peach pie, a lemon scone and a cranberry scone and returned to our site for a mid-morning snack (yummy!) while we watched the birds in the trees around the site. This recharged us enough for a walk along the river looking for more birds. Not many we could identify, but we did meet three friendly horses, standing in the shade, in a paddock along the trail. We returned in time for a bit more reading by our irrigation stream and then lunch.
After lunch it was time for another bike ride, this time out beyond the visitor center and east on Utah-24 to the far end of the Cohab Canyon Trail (reconnaissance for a hike tomorrow) and then to an area of petroglyphs along the road for a ranger talk on the Fremont Culture. We arrived at the petroglyphs about a half-hour early, but they had a long shaded bench on the viewing platform, where the talk was supposed to take place. About 10 minutes later, while we were sitting and waiting, a long line of cars pulled into the parking lot and about 30 college students popped out. There was an older man among them who I assumed was an instructor. I asked him if this was a class. With an accent, he replied geology, then turned to one of the students and started speaking German. It was a group of German students on a geology excursion/class in the US. Unfortunately, after looking at the petroglyphs on the cliff wall above us, they all settled down on every available seat in the shade for a class—auf Deutch, naturlich.
They were still at it when the ranger arrived, but she graciously allowed them to stay and we listened to her presentation on the Fremont paleo-indian culture standing in a shaded section of one of the walkways along the petroglyph wall. It was a short, but interesting, presentation highlightig the differences between the Fremont people and the contemporaneous pre-Puebloan culture to the south (what used to be called Anazasi).
The German students were still in class as we left. We pedaled back towards the visitor center, stopping at a couple of the orchards along the way. One of the unique features of Capitol Reef is the Fruita area, a historic Mormon farming community (now abandoned, but maintained by the Park Service). Its highlight are the many fruit and nut orchards that were the market crop of Fruita.
They still maintain 19 orchards and 3,100 fruit and nut trees. If an orchard has fruit, you are allowed to go in and pick and eat whatever you want, for free, within the orchard. If the orchard is officially open, you can pick as much as you want to take with you, at a dollar a pound, paid at an honesty station within the orchard. We chose the pick and eat method for now. We are a couple of weeks too late for the peach season and, being the park's most desirable fruit, the peach trees were picked clean. Apple and pears are now in season. Actually, it is the end of the pears and near the end of the apples. We had a delicious apple (variety unknown) in the first orchard we stopped in and were able to find a couple of pears still on trees in the second orchard, also delicious, but they were just about picked out.
The second orchard also had a footbridge over the river, providing a shortcut to the campground, we took it, looking for more fruit, but finding none, we headed back to camp. After taking much appreciated showers in Speedy, pedaling back to the Gifford House for forgotten ice cream to go with the pie and relaxing a bit more, it was time for dinner. We had salmon, steamed in a foil packets with butter, a couscous salad and, finally, fresh baked peach pie and ice cream. Another fine day at Capitol Reef.
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