No scones today—Ellen's Banana Pecan Pancakes instead. I didn't miss the scones at all. Today was time for a new hike for us, the Old Wagon Loop Trail. We drove out the scenic drive along the reef for about five miles to reach the trailhead.
The rangers keep warning us about flash floods and what we should do if it starts raining. Even though the area gets only seven inches of rain a year, this is considered the "monsoon" season. The sandstone and clay-like formations don't absorb the rain and it all drains down into washes and they have short, but sometimes intense flash floods through the washes. The scenic drives goes through (not over) many of these washes. One section of the road even curves into a wash and back out about 50 yards later. There was much evidence of flooding recently. Most of the deeper washes had dirt banks along the edges of the road where the silt from the flood had been plowed off the road, much like snow.
It wasn't raining so we had no trouble reaching the trailhead. In fact, it was another cloudless, sunny, dry and hot day—and it was only 9:30am. The Old Wagon Loop Trail supposedly follows an old wagon road over Miners Mountain, almost to the top, before it loops back to a knob with a panoramic view of the Waterpocket Fold, the feature that defines Capitol Reef. The loop is nearly four miles long (3.7 miles according to my GPS), with 1,100 feet of elevation gain. While it wasn't a steep climb, it rose relentlessly. It was in a juniper-piñon forest, but since the trees are not more than 6-10 feet tall and widely spaced, there really wasn't any shade. The trail went over rock and where it wasn't slickrock, much of the rock was very fractured into softball-to-basketball sized blocks. It was not easy walking.
The trail went on for nearly two miles before looping back. This was supposedly the wagon road part, but, with the exception of one short spot that could have been a cut, there was really no evidence that we could see that it was ever a wagon road. It would have been quite a rough one, in any case. Although we were on a relatively even slope going up, we could see that we were getting up to the level of the top of the cliffs along the fold on the other side of the scenic road.
It was a short downhill to the knob with the viewpoint and when we climbed it we were treated with a long panoramic view of the Waterpocket Fold, and the higher formations behind it, particularly the close-by Fern's Nipple. The fold is over a 100 miles long, so we couldn't see it all, but it was a great view, worth the hard uphill hiking.
After the knob, it was all downhill, through that blocky, rough, stone trail and back to Speedy. It was probably the hardest hike we've taken this trip, due to the roughness of trail and the sun and heat. By the time we returned to Speedy, it was lunch time. I had carried lunch with us, thinking that we might be on the trail for lunch, but we finished earlier than expected. It was just as well, as it was much more comfortable to sit in the shade of the van, rather than out in the hot sun.
After continuing along the scenic drive out to the Capitol Gorge parking area, we headed back to the campground and another relaxing afternoon. After that hike it was time of another Speedy shower. The shower facilities in a Roadtrek are a bit tight. The van has a dropped floor along the middle of the interior and there is a shower curtain track that allows one to have an enclosure right in the middle of the dropped floor. There is a trigger-activated shower-head on a hose with controls in the toilet cabinet.
While we have a propane-fired water heater, getting a consistent temperature in the shower has been problematic. The mixing is inconsistent and the water varied between too cold and too hot. While talking to another camper, with a similar heater, we were given the secret of a good shower. Only heat the water to the warmth you want and then shut the heater off. There is enough water in the tank for at least two good showers (It's an eight gallon tank). After a bit of experimentation, we found that heating from cold for 15 minutes results in a perfect shower temperature. We had two great showers.
Clean and refreshed, it was another relaxing afternoon with a couple of good books and a few snacks. Before long it was time for dinner. Mezze penne bolognese, with a green salad was on the menu. It was topped off with Haagen-Daz ice cream cups as we watched the setting sun light up the cliffs overlooking the campground.
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