day five; capital reef national park and needles district of canyonlands national park.

capitol reef was another park that we initially had no intentions in visiting but, much like how we were drawn to zion, we saw a sign headed in that direction.

we were shocked to see that several of the sights and trails were closed to due fallen rocks and trees, but we were not going to let that stop us from seeing what the park had to offer. we spent the next few hours viewing petrogylphs left behind on the canyon walls, climbing the rock layers surrounding hickman's natural bridge like it was our own private jungle gym and then taking in some scenic views of cathedral valley.

we ran into another defiant group of travelers on the closed trail who suggested on our way out we take the scenic highway ninety five. and we were off!

the four hour drive along various canyons and over the san juan river led us to the needles entrance into canyonlands national park, where we took advantage of the few hours of daylight we had left by hiking around pothole point and watching the sun set at the grand view overlook. with no plan in mind, except one trail in particular we wanted to be sure to do the next day, we drove an hour out of the park where we found a rest area to get some sleep.