15 May 2018
BLM Land outside of Torrey, UT
George, my consummate travel planner, always has in mind 2-3 places we can stay when we boondock. When we drove into this space, wow it was beautiful. What we thought was BLM land actually turned out to be private land and unfortunately after two days we had to move 100 yards down the road to BLM land. No problem.
Our first stop was of course the Visitor’s Center. We get the lay of the land, get our passbook stamped, see if there are any souvenirs we like, watch the info movie about the area and then we go exploring.
Near the Capitol Reef visitor center is the site of the former Mormon colony of Fruita, established in the 1870s – the good climate of this area and the fertile soil around the Fremont River allowed for successful orchards to be established. The settlers have long since left, departing around the time this area was designated as a national monument in 1937, but fruit is still grown and can be picked in season, for a small fee.
The Gifford House has been converted to a gift shop/bakery. Yep good old fashion pies and cinnamon buns. We had to split a Strawberry Rhubarb pie, ala mode of course.
We enjoy the scenic drives, and there was one into the Grand Wash Canyon, which again was spectacular. Slow going on a dirt/gravel road, sometimes only wide enough for one car to pass with towering rock faces on either side. Pretty kool, glad it didn’t rain.
On one rock face there were many petroglyphs .
Enjoy the pictures.
