Utah has five national parks – the state with the third most national parks (California has nine, Alaska has eight):

• Zion
• Bryce Canyon
• Arches
• Canyonlands
• Capitol Reef

Up until this trip to Moab, UT, with our friends Chad and Shannon, my husband and I had been to four of the five national parks in Utah. And we were so close to Capitol Reef National Park, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to visit the fifth and final national park in Utah.

So, the four of us got up early and left Moab for the next 30 hours or so, temporarily packing up our stuff for an overnight stay in Bluff, UT. And we departed for the 2-plus-hour drive from Moab to Capitol Reef, passing through Green River and Hanksville.

By the time we arrived at the gate to Capitol Reef and perused the visitor center, we decided (or maybe it was just me) that we were getting pretty hungry. Instead of seeking a lunch spot, like sensible people would do, we discovered something even better inside Capitol Reef National Park. In fact, it might actually be my favorite part of Capitol Reef National Park.

Gifford’s Pies.

So, we stopped and had pie. For lunch.

Let me tell you. It was SO good.

In fact, we enjoyed it so much, Shannon and I went back inside the house (just in time before they closed up shop) and bought another round of spare pies to add to our cooler for later. Let me be clear, though: These pies are more or less personal size, so it’s not like we bought a bunch of full-size pies and ate them in one setting.

Gifford’s Pies operates out of the historic (and partially restored/renovated and refurnished by the Capitol Reef Natural History Association and the National Park Service) Gifford farmhouse. The historic house is part of the Gifford Homestead, located within Capitol Reef National Park in Fruita valley, a 200-acre Rural Historical District that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The homestead includes a barn, smokehouse, garden, pasture, and rock walls, in addition to the house.

We learned that the pies aren’t actually made in the Gifford house; they are made at a local bakery somewhere and brought in to the Gifford house daily, but the fruits used for the pies come from Fruita valley. They had everything from peach pie to apple pie to cherry pie to strawberry rhubarb pie to mixed berry pie. (I’ll take one of each, please!) But when they run out of pie for the day, they close the store!

Gifford Homestead History from the National Park Service website:

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The original home was built in 1908 by Calvin Pendleton. He and his family occupied it for eight years. The original house had a combined front room/kitchen and two small bedrooms. An outside ladder accessed two upstairs bedrooms. Pendleton also constructed the barn and smokehouse, as well as the rock walls near the house and on the mesa slopes above it.

The second residents of the home were the Jorgen Jorgensen family who resided here from 1916 to 1928. Jorgensen’s daughter, Nell, married Dewey Gifford in 1923, and Jorgensen sold the homestead to his son-in-law in 1928. The Gifford family occupied the home for 41 years (1928-1969). Gifford added a kitchen in 1946 and the bathroom, utility room, and carport in 1954. That same year, the Giffords also built a small motel for people visiting Capitol Reef [National Monument, as it wasn’t until 1971 that Congress changed the designation of Capitol Reef to a national park].

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When I read the following details about the Giffords, it made me think of my grandparents and their farming days in rural Wisconsin:

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The Giffords raised dairy cows, hogs, and sheep, as well as chickens and ducks. They also ran cattle in the South Desert. They used the smokehouse to preserve meat for their own use and for sale. Dewey Gifford also worked for the State Road Department and later for the National Park Service, to supplement his farm income.

The family ate whatever they raised. The garden produced a variety of vegetables including potatoes, beans, peas, squash, lettuce, radishes, corn, and watermelons. The family also had orchards and grew sorghum. They preserved fruit and vegetables for later use by bottling or drying. Bottled foods were stored in the cellar below the front of the house. Dry goods, such as potatoes, were kept in the root cellar on the back side of the house.

Water was carried to the house from the Fremont River and was used untreated. A two-hole outhouse served the family until an indoor bathroom and plumbing was installed in later years. The house received electricity in 1948.

The Giffords frequently got together with other Fruita residents, especially the Chesnut and Mulford families, for suppers, singing, games, cards, baseball, reading, and quilting. The families were good friends and helpers to each other, an important relationship in a small isolated community like Fruita.

The Giffords were the last residents of Fruita. Dewey and Nell Gifford sold their home and land to the National Park Service in 1969 and moved away. With the Giffords’ departure, the story of Fruita as a farming community came to a close. Today, the pioneer spirit of Fruita can be experienced by exploring the Fruita rural cultural landscape and by visiting the Gifford Homestead.

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My grandparents farmed when my dad and his siblings were growing up. Then when my siblings and I were kids, our grandparents had long left from their farming days (they retired from farming in 1970) but still had an underground cellar where my grandma stored all her canned vegetables and fruits from her garden. She especially became known for her pickles and her applesauce, but I also remember her green beans, asparagus, and black cap berries. Coincidentally, she also made amazing pies, played hundreds of games of cards, was a talented quilter, and regularly invited us over for supper.

I asked my dad and he filled in some additional details about my grandparents’ farming life. They grew oats, barley, wheat, rye, corn, alfalfa/clover mix, and sorghum, plus, numerous vegetables in a huge garden. They raised Guernsey milk cows, Hereford steers, hogs, chickens, mallard and Peking ducks. (Notice any similarities to the Giffords?)

Sorry for that diversion down memory lane, but it’s part of why I loved Gifford’s so much. Rural Wisconsin and rural Utah are worlds apart, yet so many similarities.

After we devoured our delicious pies, we figured we’d better get some hiking in to burn them off.

First up, Cassidy Arch.

Cassidy Arch Hike

We looked at the park map and located the Grand Wash Trailhead, which is where we’d need to park to access the trail to Cassidy Arch.

This natural stone arch was named for Butch Cassidy (Robert L. Parker), a notorious outlaw and train robber, who reportedly had a hideout in Grand Wash (the now dry streambed in the heart of Capitol Reef).

Distance wise, this was a short hike, but with an advertised 670 ft. of elevation gain over rocky terrain, and a difficulty rating of “strenuous,” there was a fair amount of upward trajectory and effort put forth.

So, up we climbed. And every other hiker that was descending as we were going up assured us we were “almost there” and that the uphill challenge was “worth it.”

And, finally, our destination was in sight.

The trail continued to climb steadily until we reached the canyon’s rim.

As we got closer to the arch, the trail’s grade reduced, the terrain transitioned to nearly exclusively slickrock, so the actual trail became less obvious, meaning we had to find our way, going in the general direction of the arch.

But, we found it!

As we’ve hiked to several arches by now, we’ve learned that it is usually forbidden to climb or stand on top of any of them. Many of the arches are fragile or already compromised. A unique feature about Cassidy Arch, however, is that you hike to the top of it and you can walk around on it. At least for now. Maybe after a few hundred more years of erosion, that will no longer be the case.

We walked around for a bit, taking in the sights and chatting with other hikers who made it to the top. I noticed two of the guys we chatted with spoke with accents. We found out they were visiting from The Netherlands. They offered to take group photos of us on top of the arch, and we offered to reciprocate, only they had to be coaxed into walking on top of the arch for their photo op. I told them they can’t have hiked all the way up here and not stand on top of the arch! So, they reluctantly did. White knuckles and all.

Soon after, we started to make our way back down. After all, we had more Capitol Reef hikes to get in!

So, down we went.

And before we left Grand Wash, Chad found another cozy cubby to climb into.

Cassidy Arch
Total Distance	3.5 mi
Total Time	1:43:17
Total Ascent	768 ft
Max Elevation	6,047 ft

Hickman Bridge

Our next destination was another short hike to Hickman Bridge, a natural sandstone bridge in Capitol Reef.

The elevation profile of this hike was much more moderate than the hike to Cassidy Arch. But it was starting to feel hot out and the majority of this trail is fully exposed with little to no shade.

Amongst all the “blonde” sandstone, oddly, part of the trail had a smattering of contrasting black volcanic rock and small pockets of orange globe mallow wildflowers.

Scenic Navajo sandstone features abound.

Shortly in, we arrived at the 133-foot span of the Hickman Bridge.

Although the Hickman Bridge looks pretty sturdy, walking on it or climbing it is forbidden, unlike the Cassidy Arch.

Hickman Bridge
Total Distance	1.86 mi
Total Time	51:33
Total Ascent	413 ft
Max Elevation	5,561 ft

We made our way back to the trailhead, got in our vehicle and hit the road, headed southeast towards Bluff, UT, our destination for the night.

The route from Capitol Reef to Bluff was about a 3-hour drive. Near Hanksville, UT, we stopped at this iconic gas station, Hollow Mountain.

On Utah State Route 95, we made a quick stop at Hite Overlook in the picturesque Glen Canyon National Recreation Area to take in the views.

We stopped at this awesome bridge spanning across Dirty Devil River.

Moki Dugway

Then at my husband’s insistence, we took a turn onto Hwy 261, which turns into the infamous Moki Dugway, a road that was constructed in the 1950s as a way to haul ore from the Happy Jack Mine (uranium mine) on Cedar Mesa to the mill in Halchita, UT, near Mexican Hat, UT.

In a nutshell, Moki Dugway is a 3-mile, unpaved, graded gravel road with steep switchbacks (11% grade) that was carved into the face of a cliff on Cedar Mesa. Our trek on Moki Dugway would be a 1,200-foot descent, winding down from Cedar Mesa to near Valley of the Gods.

It’s not hard to understand why there’s still remnants of vehicle carnage down below Moki Dugway.

As the sun was getting lower in the sky, we arrived in Bluff, UT, and after a long day of hiking and driving, we were more than ready to grab some dinner before settling in for the evening.

It was getting late, and Bluff is a very small town, so our dining options were few. Luckily, we came across Comb Ridge, where we enjoyed a wonderful dinner out on their patio (the interior of the restaurant was closed for renovations).

The cabins at Bluff Gardens were cute and very welcomed after our long day!

Tomorrow will be more sightseeing on our return route to Moab, where we’ll take a guided side-by-side ATV tour at sunset on the final day of our Moab trip.

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