Capitol Reef Scenic Drive, UT

The scenic drive through Capitol Reef National Park is the road that heads south from the Visitor's center off of highway 24. The first part of the road is called Camp Ground road and it hits up all the historic places in Fruita. A good stop here is the Gifford Homestead, they have fresh homemade pies and cookies for sale here. Once you pass the barn is the section known as the scenic drive. There are several turn offs to trail heads along this road, the first being Cohab Canyon.


There is a guide available to the Scenic drive, there are numbered stops along the way and the guide explains the geological features at each stop.Grand Wash and Pioneer Registry are accessed off the Scenic Drive.

If you continue far enough, the road will turn to a dirt road. This is known as Pleasant creek road. It is marked as "high clearance" but the road here still looks maintained out to the old ranch. At this point you need to cross Pleasant creek. This is where 4x4 would be required going forward, the road from here on out is called South Draw road. If you continue on South Draw road you will leave the park and end up on Highway 12.

The paved part of the road is the official Scenic Drive route marked as 20 miles round trip. Continueing on the dirt road section will add additional miles.

2016-07-07 cw50must