Hickman Natural Bridge

March 26, 2021

We made it to Torrey, and enjoyed a nice hike out to Hickman Natural Bridge in Capitol Reef National Park on the way here. It was snowing lightly when we arrived at our motel (Torrey is about twenty-five hundred feet higher than Moab) but the weather looks promising for the next few days. We should get in a decent ride or two, as well as a longer hike in the park.

Don’t expect to hear anything about it for awhile though, because the WiFi here is pretty awful. Unless something changes, we’ll just take good notes and catch up later - probably not until after we return to Portland on April 1st. After that I should have plenty of time on my hands for catching up, since it looks like rains are due to arrive back home about the same time that we do.

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News flash! The WiFi here is not impossibly slow, but pretty close. We will now return to regular programming.

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So, not impossibly slow after all. Photos can be uploaded at a not quite glacial pace, in the early hours when there’s no competition for bandwidth. The perfect activity if you wake early but don’t want to get up and disturb your partner.

Still though, very slow. Don’t expect many words over the next few days. Be happy for what you’ve got, and feel free to make educated guesses about how our day went and what we’re seeing here. All will be revealed, in time.

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OK. Here are some details, if you can call them that. More like broad-brush statements, limited by fast-fading memories of how the day went. We stayed around our motel until about 10 and then drove to Green River for breakfast as the natural spot to break the day’s drive. On the way north we had one last opportunity to experience the terrible traffic on US 91 as it passes through Moab. I’m sure it’s always awful - it really ruins downtown in my opinion - but it’s unbearably bad now, with a road construction project that chokes the highway down to two lanes at the north end of town.

I’ve speculated that the town might be considering rerouting the highway away from Main Street, because it’s really being strangled by growth and increasing traffic. I was surprised to learn that there are already rerouting proposals on the books that the state of Utah advocates, but Moab itself is strongly opposed and in general anti-growth. The problem with rerouting is that with the severe geology that surrounds the town there are so few choices, all bad. One proposal would reroute US 91 down Potash Rad and cross the Colorado over a new bridge west of town. With that as the alternative, I’d rather see the semis choking up Main Street too. The idea of seeing Potash Road destroyed makes my stomach turn.

Once we leave the interstate and turn south on UT 24 the ride becomes steadily more interesting. At first the route crosses an open, arid, roadless plateau between the Green and Fremont Rivers, with the landscape highlighted to the south by the Henry Mountains and to the east by the formations fronting Capitol Reef. At Hanksville the route splits, with UT 95 continuing south to Lake Powell while UT 24 turns east toward Capitol Reef. We’ll see more of this jaw-dropping country when we return for a day ride, but here are just a few photos from the road, from when I couldn’t bear just driving past any longer.

The view west is very dark. We’re in no hurry, because we can’t check into our motel until 4 and there’s a chance of snow up there. We might as well stay this side of the weather for awhile.

West of Hanksville we approach the kaleidoscopic formations around Capitol Reef.

Hanksville Butte, the largest formation around.

As we near Torrey the weather surprisingly improves considerably and we start looking for a promising spot to pull off for a walk. I was interested in walking out into the Blue Hills around Caineville, but it’s really a forbidding area with few obvious ways in. Much better is the trailhead for the hike to Hickman Natural Bridge - a short hike to an impressive arch that gives us a good first taste of the natural park. Just right for a way to fill the time until our room becomes available.

Looking down on UT 24 from the Hickman Bridge trail. I think the large white sandstone dome on the left is the formation that gives Capitol Reef its name because of its resemblance to our nation’s capitol building.

Here’s that bridge we’ve been hearing so much about.

Hickman Natural Bridge. From this angle it reminds me of Sipapu Bridge down in Natural Bridges.

On the Hickman Bridge Trail. This view gives you a bit of a feel for the amazing color of Capitol Reef.

From the vista point at the end of the Hickman Bridge Trail.

On the Hickman Bridge Trail. No, I don’t know what she’s pointing at either but I’m sure it’s amazing.

When we return to the car we’ve still got a few minutes until we can check in to our room so we fill them by pulling off at Panorama Point, a pullout that definitely earns its name. Incredible views all around.

The view southeast, with the Henry Mountains in the distance.

And actually, the views from Torrey itself are nothing to sniff at either. Here’s the look west from the deck of our motel.

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