Scenic Side Roads within the Park
0.0 Leave Parking Area on Paved Road to the Southeast which leads back to Fruita and the Capitol Reef Lodge and campground area on the south side of Sulphur Creek.
1.0 Capitol Reef Lodge with restaurant, rooms and a curio shop. End of the paved road.
1.1 Cross the Fremont River.
1.3 West end of the Cohab Canyon Trail. Junction to the Campground. The campground has a restroom and trailer facilities with lawns along the bank of the Fremont River. Excellent exposures of Chinle Shale can be seen east of the river and cast of the campground. Boulder-covered terraces are developed along the Fremont River to the west. Old basalt rock fences can be seen on the river bluff. Continue on South on the Main Park Road Through Exposures of Bassal Chinle Beds. Moenkopi rocks are exposed to the west. The Sinbad Limestone Member of the Moenkopi Formation is visible as the tan bluffs up the Fremont River to the west, above the lighter cliffs of the Kaibab Limestone. The road continues south in Moenkopi beds.
2.7 Danish Hill, summit of the divide between Grand Wash and Fremont River. The Fremont River can be seen ahead, with the prominent spur between Sulphur Creek and the river capped by dark basaltic debris.
3.0 The steep east-dipping Sinbad Limestone Member of the Moenkopi Formation forms the tan resistant ledges west of the soft reddish unit in the subsequent valley where the road has been constructed. Kaibab Limestone is exposed to the west in canyons cut through the lower Moenkopi beds.
3.6 Junction of Side Road into Grand Wash, Turn East (Left) Down Grand Wash. Cross over the approximate trace of the Shinarump Conglomerate. Prospect pits for uranium can be seen to the north in the conglomerate between the castellate surfaces of the Moenkopi Formation and the slope forming Chinle beds above. To the north the Shinarump Conglomerate pinches out a few tenths of a mile north of Grand Wash so that there Chinle beds rest directly on red Moenkopi rocks.
3.8 Cross Grand Wash. Chinle beds are exposed along both sides of the wash. Downstream well-developed terraces occur about twenty feet above the present stream channel.
4.3 Drop into Grand Wash. Uppermost beds of the Chinle Formation are preserved in vertical-walled exposures to the south and north. Top of the Chinle Shale and base of the Wingate Sandstone exposed on the north wall of the canyon ahead. Vertical walls are in Wingate Sandstone. The road continues along the bottom of the wash.
4.6 Shinob or Bear Canyon, a prominent joint-controlled canyon, joins Grand Wash from the southwest. Directly ahead the massive desert-varnished brown Wingate of Echo Cliff is capped by flaggy beds of the Kayenta Sandstone. Rounded Navajo Sandstone is visible high on the skyline.
4.9 End of Road. Parking Area. Cassidy Arch is along a foot trail approximately 2 miles from the parking area. The trail leaves Grand Wash near the Narrows and connects with the Cohab Canyon Trail approximately 4 miles from here and 1.5 miles from the campground at Fruita. A trail leads through the Narrows of Grand Wash 1.3 miles beyond the parking area. The Narrows of Grand Wash are in the Navajo Sandstone which is exposed here high on the wall to the southeast. Turn around and return to the main road at the head of Grand Wash. The relatively flat top of the spectacularly crossbedded Wingate Sandstone can be seen to the west below where it grades into the flaggy beds of the Kayenta Sandstone.
6.2 Rejoin the Main Monument Road. Turn to the South (Left). The road continues southward in the soft middle beds of the Moenkopi Formation (fig. 7.27). The tan resistant unit to the west on Miners Mountain is the Sinbad Limestone Member of the Moenkopi Formation. Kaibab Limestone is exposed in the deeper canyons on the slope, below the lower Moenkopi beds, with local inliers of Coconino Sandstone in some of the deeper canyons associated with Grand Wash.
6.7 The Shinarump Conglomerate ledge to the east is about 30 feet thick, separating the gray green shales of the Chinle Formation from the brick red laminated beds of the Moenkopi Formation below. The Shinarump Conglomerate is lenticular and uneven along the outcrop trace. It disappears in the distance from the promontory back to the main body of the cliff.
Figure 7.27. Thin veinlets of white crystalline gypsum cutting through Moenkopi beds along the park road at approximately Mile 6.2 in Arches National Park.
7.4 To the east the massive high wall is composed of Wingate, Kayenta, and Navajo Sandstone above the slopes on Chinle and Moenkopi Formations. Lenticular Shinarump Conglomerate is now present east of the road between the Moenkopi and Chinle beds. The Shinarump Conglomerate represents old stream deposits, channel fillings or point bar deposits so by studying the unit we can get some indication of the direction of flow in the old river in which the sediments accumulated.
8.1 Bridge over gully. Excellent crossbedded Moenkopi Sandstone is visible in the channel bottom and in abutments of the bridges. Almost all of the slabs of sandstone in this section of the formation show crossbedding and intricate ripple marks. Jointing in the formation produces rather squarish blocks, almost ideal for building stones, that are ripple marked, ornamental and yet resistant much like those used in the construction of the Visitors Center.
8.7 Summit and Drainage Divide Between Grand Wash and Capitol Wash. Excellent high exposures of Moenkopi beds are visible to the east. The road continues to wind southward through soft siltstones and fine grained sandstones of the Moenkopi Formation with more well-cemented beds forming semi-resistant ledges, To the west occasional glimpses can be seen of the Sinbad Limestone and lighter colored sandstones in the lower part of the Moenkopi Formation exposed in gully head waters.
10.0 Egyptian Temple to the Northeast (fig. 7.28) is carved in the upper beds of the Moenkopi Formation which are capped by the tan Shinarump Conglomerate.
Figure 7.28. Vim northeastward to the Egyptian Temple carved in banded Moenkopi Formation and capped by massive sandstone of the Shinarump Member of the Chinle Formation, at approximately Mile 10 in the road log.
10.6 Narrows Through Shinarump Conglomerate. This formation is a cross-bedded, stream-deposited conglomerate here and appears rather characteristic of sands that produce uranium. Grayish rounded bluffs of Chinle Formations can be seen directly ahead through the Narrows. Fossil wood has been found locally in the Chinle Formation.
10.8 Junction of Capitol Gorge road with one to the Sleeping Rainbow Guest Ranch and Pleasant Creek to the south. Continue into the Ranger Station parking area. A complete Kaibab Limestone-Lower Moenkopi Formation section can be seen by walking approximately two miles up either fork of Capitol Wash to the west to where Coconino Sandstone is exposed in both forks of the wash.
10.9 Ranger Station and Road into the Mouth of Capitol Gorge. Excellent exhibits at the station explain the local geology and natural history. Hanks Tower in Wingate Sandstone is to the south. Continue to the east into Capitol Wash, if the weather is good. Do not go in if rain threatens, or if gates are closed because of flash flood danger.
11.1 Tapestry walls are in Wingate Sandstone on the south wall of the gorge, Tapestry like appearance is because of streaks of desert varnish over the Wingate Cliff.
11.5 Excellent exposures of cross-bedded Wingate Sandstone. Flaggy Kayenta rocks form the semi-slope zone in the cliff and are overlain by rounded Navajo Sandstone which caps the skyline to the east.
11.8 Wingate Sandstone forms the relatively narrow section of the canyon. Sign points to Water pockets, or little reservoir depressions in some of the joint-controlled gullies to the south, The road continues down the bottom of the gorge cut in crossbedded sandstone. Before the new paved road was constructed down the Fremont River Valley this was the only drivable castwest road through the Waterpocket Fold, Local ranchers tell of 10-foot walls of water in the past rushing down through the gorge during sudden summer thunder storms.
12.5 Golden Throne Parking Area. The trail leads approximately one hundred yards to the south to a view point of the Golden Throne on the skyline to the north. Top of the Wingate Sandstone and base of the Kayenta Sandstone is at road level here, Most of the rocks in the immediate canyon wall are in the Kayenta Sandstone. To see the Golden Throne walk a hundred yards down the gravelled trail from the parking lot and then look back up the canyon to the north.
13.1 Paved Crossing and Entry into the Parking Lot at the End of the Road. A walk downstream of approximately I mile will pass the Narrows, petroglyphs, Pioneer Register, and "water pockets" in joints in the Navajo Sandstone. The base of the Navajo Sandstone and top of the flaggy Kayenta beds come down to river level just beyond the shelter and information center at the parking lot. The contact is at the level where the flaggy reddish bedded materials give away to the light tan and white massive Navajo Sandstone. The top of the Kayenta Sandstone is exposed at river level about one hundred yards beyond the Visitors Center, just short of where typical Fremont petroglyphs are carved on the north wall of the canyon. The Narrows of Capitol Wash is in the Navajo Sandstone (fig. 7.29) approximately I mile below the parking area where the gorge narrows down to 15 to 20 feet wide. Navajo Sandstone in the Narrows is cross-bedded and in some beds it contains little rows of pebbly-appearing nodules. These are merely well-cemented areas in the cross-bedded fine-grained sandstone.
Trails lead to the north from the parking area to where one can get a better view of the gorge and of the Golden Throne. There are interpretative exhibits, garbage facilities, and restroom facilities at the parking area. Turn around and return to the headquarters area.
Figure 7.29. The Narrows of Capitol Gorge we nearly vertical walled and have been cut through Navajo Sandstone. This was the main route through Capitol Reef until a few years ago when the new road was constructed along the Fremont River. The road through Capitol Gorge was tenuous, particularly during the summer seasons of thunderstorms and flash floods.
from Field Guide: Northern Colorado Plateau by J. Keith Rigby - Purchase Information
