Capitol Reef National Park

Capitol Reef National Park protects the Waterpocket Fold, a warp in the earth's crust nearly 100 miles long in south-central Utah. Highway 24 crosses it through Fruita, a pioneer settlement whose orchards still bear fruit. In 2025 the park received 1,388,476 recreation visits, with May the busiest month. It became a national monument in 1937 and a national park in 1971.

Capitol Reef National Park reopened most of its roads in the week after flooding around 22 October 2026. On 24 October the park had listed the Scenic Drive as open only as far as Grand Wash and every dirt backroad as likely impassable, and on 22 October it reported debris on Highway 24 east of the visitor centre, with traffic delayed behind flaggers and a pilot car.

The figures here come from the park's own pages and NOAA's climate normals, checked on 26 October 2026, with the road and orchard conditions checked again on 30 October.

Which Capitol Reef roads were open on 29 October 2026?

Capitol Reef's Scenic Drive, Grand Wash and most of its dirt backroads were open on 29 October 2026, on the park's road table updated that day. Capitol Gorge Road was the one road listed as closed, and the Fremont River ford was impassable in deep mud.

The Park Service updates its road table weekly and says the park's road-condition phone line has the most current information. A table checked on one day can be out of date a week later, so a driver heading for a dirt road should call that line first.

On 28 October 2026 the park listed the Krueger and Chesnut orchards as open for the apple harvest.

Why do you pay only on the Scenic Drive?

Capitol Reef charges its entrance fee only for the Scenic Drive, the paved road south from Fruita. A self-pay station stands just south of Fruita Campground. Highway 24 crosses the park free, and so do its trails, the petroglyphs and the Gifford House.

The Scenic Drive costs $20 per car, $15 per motorcycle and $10 per person on foot or by bicycle. The park's annual pass costs $35 and is sold to US residents only. The park is not one of the eleven parks with the $100 non-resident surcharge, and the $250 non-resident America the Beautiful pass covers the fee. Our guide to national park fees for international visitors explains that pass.

The park has almost no phone signal. A digital pass bought on Recreation.gov needs downloading before arrival.

What does the Highway 24 corridor show without a ticket?

Highway 24 shows a good part of Capitol Reef without any fee, because the free corridor runs through Fruita past several of the park's best short stops. The visitor centre stands where the highway meets the Scenic Drive.

• Petroglyph panel: Fremont rock art made between 600 and 1300, seen from two wooden boardwalks 1.1 miles east of the visitor centre.
• Hickman Bridge: a 133-foot natural bridge, 0.9 miles each way with 400 feet of climb.
• Goosenecks Overlook and Sunset Point: short walks from Panorama Point, west of the visitor centre, good at sunrise and sunset.
• Fruita Schoolhouse: a school built in 1896 and closed in 1941 for lack of pupils, seen through its windows.

The visitor centre opens from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and from 9 a.m. in winter, from 29 November 2026 to 6 March 2027. It closes on Thanksgiving, 24 and 25 December and 1 January.

When can you pick fruit in the Fruita orchards?

The Fruita orchards can be picked from late June to mid-October, depending on the fruit and the year. About 2,000 trees grow on 100 acres of orchards and pastures, which the Park Service keeps.

The rules are simple. Pick only in an orchard signed open for harvest. Fruit eaten among the trees is free, and fruit taken away is weighed at a self-pay station. On 28 October 2026 apples cost $2 a pound or $30 for a 50-pound bushel. Ladders and pickers are provided, and nobody may climb the historic trees. Fenced orchards open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The Gifford House, a mile south of the visitor centre on the Scenic Drive, sells locally baked fruit pies. In 2026 it opens daily from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. until Sunday 22 November, then reopens on 14 March 2027.

Which trails near Fruita and Highway 24 suit a first visit?

Capitol Reef's trails suit a first visit when they start on Highway 24 or near Fruita. The park quotes distances one way for every trail except the loops, so a round trip is double. Trailhead car parks often fill from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in spring and autumn.

Capitol Gorge was the main road through the fold from 1884 to 1962, and travellers carved their names in its walls. Pets and bicycles are banned on the trails, and so are drones.

Can you drive Cathedral Valley and the Burr Trail?

Cathedral Valley and the Burr Trail are dirt-road drives for high-clearance vehicles. The park listed both as high-clearance 2WD on 29 October 2026, with the Fremont River ford in Cathedral Valley impassable in deep mud. In a normal season they are the reason to give Capitol Reef a second day.

• Cathedral Valley loop: 57.6 miles, six to eight hours, usually clockwise from the Hartnet Road, 11.7 miles east of the visitor centre. It fords the Fremont River, normally a foot deep or less. The Cathedral Road on the east side avoids the ford.
• Notom-Bullfrog Road: leaves Highway 24 nine miles east of the visitor centre, paved for 15 miles, then dirt. Bentonite clay south of Cedar Mesa turns treacherous when wet.
• Burr Trail switchbacks: an 800-foot climb in half a mile, not suitable for motorhomes or trailers.

The park defines high clearance as eight inches at least, and it bans ATVs and UTVs, street-legal ones included. Its directions page warns against trusting GPS, which can route cars onto the unsuitable South Draw Road.

When do flash floods close Grand Wash and Capitol Gorge?

Flash floods close Capitol Reef's canyon roads most often from mid-June to mid-October, the monsoon season. Less than half an inch of rain in an hour can flood a wash, and floods can arrive from storms that never reach the park. The averages below are NOAA's 1991 to 2020 normals for the visitor centre station, at 5,500 feet.

Grand Wash and Capitol Gorge are roads on canyon floors. In June 2022 floods swept away three parked cars in Grand Wash and two in Capitol Gorge. August is the wettest month. April, May, September and October are the best months to visit, and the park counts March to June and September to October as its busy seasons.

Since August 2026 Utah's environmental agency has warned of elevated E. coli in the Fremont River and Sulphur Creek. Do not swim, and keep the water out of your mouth.

Where do you sleep near Capitol Reef?

Capitol Reef has one developed campground and no lodge, so most visitors sleep in Torrey, about 11 miles west. The park has no restaurant and no fuel station either.

Fruita Campground has 71 sites, no hookups and flush toilets but no showers, at $25 a night. It is reservation-only all year, with bookings opening six months ahead on Recreation.gov. From mid-March to October it is usually full months in advance.

Two primitive campgrounds are free and first come, first served: Cathedral Valley, with six sites at about 7,000 feet, and Cedar Mesa, with five sites at 5,500 feet. Both lie on dirt backroads that the park listed as high-clearance 2WD on 29 October 2026.

Torrey has seasonal groceries, hotels and fuel. Loa, 28 miles west, has year-round groceries, and Hanksville, 37 miles east, has fuel and a small store. Many businesses in the area close in winter and on Sundays.

How do you reach Capitol Reef from Bryce Canyon and Moab?

Capitol Reef lies on Highway 24 between Scenic Byway 12 to the west and Interstate 70 to the east, about three hours from Bryce Canyon by the byway. Scenic Byway 12 runs 123 miles from US 89 near Panguitch to Torrey and crosses Boulder Mountain at about 9,600 feet, which can make it hazardous in winter.

From Interstate 70, leave at exit 149 and follow Highway 24 west through Hanksville to the visitor centre. From Moab, US 191 leads north to Interstate 70. Do not rely on a GPS unit to find the park.

Capitol Reef has been an International Dark Sky Park since 2015, and Torrey was Utah's first dark-sky community. Its free Heritage StarFest is held most Septembers. On a Utah road trip the park is the middle stop, between Bryce Canyon and Moab. The other national parks in Utah are Arches National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, Canyonlands National Park and Zion National Park.