Boulders/Capital Reef/Goblin Valley through the Swell

[DaveB]

We just got back from a long three day wheeling/sightseeing trip. We started out by going to the Boulder mountains to a little spot I know just outside of Capital Reef along Pleasant Creek. We set up camp did some fishing then took the South Draw 4x4 trail down into Capital Reef. We talked to an outfitter that was there and he said the road was really rough. It ended up not being that rough. We didn't need 4 wheel drive. If it was wet it would be a different story. It was very scenic. The next morning we went to Boulder and took the Burr Trail down to the Nottom road then came back north to Goblin Valley. The campground was full so we went off into the boonies and did some more primitive camping. Saturday we did Little Wildhorse Canyon then came back through the Swell. The grandkids were tired by Saturday so we only did the scenic ride through the swell. We'll have to make it back to do more trails. We did paint the jeep and my Bantam trailer a new color after a rain storm muddied up the road.

 

[BlackSheep]

Wow Dave! Great photos. Sounds like a great trip.

 

[DaveB]

Yeah it was a fun trip, now I have a lot of clean up to do.

 

[Greg]

Awesome trip report Dave!! Looks like an amazing area to explore, I'm very jealous, How was the fishing, any luck? Little Wild Horse is a fun canyon, I need to get back out there again soon. I think this is one of the most scenic pictures I've seen in sometime-

 

[DaveB]

Awesome trip report Dave!! Looks like an amazing area to explore, I'm very jealous, How was the fishing, any luck? Little Wild Horse is a fun canyon, I need to get back out there again soon. I think this is one of the most scenic pictures I've seen in sometime-

The fishing was good, nothing huge but plenty of them. I love fishing on a stream that hasn't been fished to death. This area is very scenic and I have more pictures of the stream. The farther we went into the canyon the more scenic it got. I wish we had more time to hike way down the stream.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Sounds like a great trip

We were on the Burr trail a couple of weekends ago... amazing how much traffic that road sees. We drove the Upper Muley Twist Trail, thinking it would get us out of the hustle/bustle of the main trail... there were 6+ cars parked at the end of the trail. The short hike was worth it though...

I'm trying to picture where you guys came into Capitol Reef? Which side of the park does the "South Draw" trail enter from?

 

[DaveB]

Sounds like a great trip

We were on the Burr trail a couple of weekends ago... amazing how much traffic that road sees. We drove the Upper Muley Twist Trail, thinking it would get us out of the hustle/bustle of the main trail... there were 6+ cars parked at the end of the trail. The short hike was worth it though...

I'm trying to picture where you guys came into Capitol Reef? Which side of the park does the "South Draw" trail enter from?

The South Draw trail comes into Capital Reef on the west side of the park. The trail connects the Tantalus Flats road that goes by Lower Bowns Reservoir and Pleasant Creek to the Scenic Drive road that goes south out of Fruita. It turns out that the Rosebud ATV trail is in the same area and was featured on At Your Liesure last week. Hopefully it doesn't get over-run by too many ATVs.