Week 100: Bryce Canyon to Capitol Reef to Great Basin National Park
How the heck has it been 100 weeks since we sold our house to travel full time?
April 27-May 3, 2026
Hello, hi, howdy! Welcome back to another weekly update. This one is pretty special because — are you ready for it? — it’s been 100 weeks since we sold our house in Austin, Texas to travel full time — first in a converted camper van that we later sold, and then in an AEONrv we’ve named Henry!
I can’t get over it — it really feels like we’re just getting started. I feel so lucky for this life we get to live and try not to take anything for granted. I love sharing it with you so that you can experience it too, and hope it brings a moment of peace to your hectic week.
This week, we traveled from Bryce Canyon National Park to Capitol Reef National Park (both in Utah) and then headed to Great Basin National Park, Nevada where I’m currently writing this to you from camp.
Here’s our route:
Now let’s see what we were up to.
Farewell, Bryce Canyon National Park
On Monday we sadly left Bryce Canyon National Park — but not before making two more stops.
Stop #1: Fairyland Canyon
First up, Fairyland Canyon, where we learned that the hoodoos in this part of the park are younger than those in the main amphitheater.
We hiked a little bit of the Fairyland Loop Trail and spotted another Great Basin bristlecone pine. They’re just so cool.
I can’t wait to get back here someday and hike the whole loop.
Stop #2: Mossy Cave Trail
Then it was on to the Mossy Cave Trail. This short but sweet hike is one of the only hikes in the park that begins with a climb and ends with a descent — my kinda hike! It has a little bit of everything, too — a cave with dripping moss, a waterfall, and classic Bryce Canyon rock formations:
I’m so glad we did it!
Then after stopping to get groceries in Loa, Utah we headed to…
Capitol Reef National Park, Utah
We arrived at Capitol Reef National Park just before sunset and we were pretty tired — but not too tired to stop for a photo of the moon:
Whew! What a long day!
Pie Day
Tuesday we woke up early and walked from the campground over to the historic Gifford House, where the Capitol Reef Natural History Association, in cooperation with the National Park Service, sells homemade pies daily.
We had a hard time choosing what flavor to get, so Jason decided to get all three vegan options: peach, strawberry-rhubarb, and cherry. These are just lil pies y’all.
I hadn’t had pie since my Dad’s 80th birthday back in October — he’s the pie guy — so I asked him which one we should try first and he voted for peach.
It was good! :)
Visitor Center Surprise
After we finished our breakfast of oatmeal and pie we headed to the Visitor Center to watch the park film — and I spotted this painting by Claire Giordano of Adventure Art Academy in the theater room!
She painted it during her time as artist-in-residence here at Capitol Reef back in 2021, and I remember watching the lesson on Adventure Art Academy years ago. It’s still part of the course catalog if you’d like to see it.
Claire is a great teacher and takes you along with her as she hikes and paints — I highly recommend joining the Academy. She is so generous with her time and knowledge and she gave me advice before my first ever artist residency at Valles Caldera National Preserve back in Week 10 — to cook food ahead of time so that I could focus on painting — best advice ever! It’s also super helpful to cook ahead if you want to give yourself time to create at home.
I also spotted a photograph by Paul Atkinson from when he was artist-in-residence here as well:
Be sure to check out his website for more amazing photos and stories, many from his artist residencies.
Petroglyphs
Our next stop was to see the Fremont Culture Petroglyphs along Utah State Route 24. We spotted them pretty quickly through our binoculars, then stood silently taking them in:
What are they? On the park service website they’re described as “anthropomorphic (human-like) petroglyphs”. They filled me with wonder. And awe.
The petroglyphs to the left of those are most likely bighorn sheep:
We didn’t see any live bighorns while we were there — but we did get to see these.
Scenic Drive
We decided to do the Scenic Drive to get more of a feel for the park, stopping here and there to take in the views, like this one from Danish Hill:
It was hard to wrap my mind around the scale of the park, but hopefully this photo gives you an idea.
Hiking Capitol Gorge
At the end of the Scenic Drive is the the Capitol Gorge Trail, a short trail up a wash to a side trail that leads to waterpockets or tanks.
First we spotted some cool yuccas:
Then more petroglyphs:
It was an uphill climb to get to the waterpockets:
Here they are at last!
It was so cool to see them and think about the wildlife that uses them, including humans. When we came around the corner to the first one we even heard a duck!
It was hard to capture the depth of some of the tanks.
The sun dipped behind a ridgeline and made for a dramatic shot:
These were only taken about 10 minutes apart:
All too soon it was time to hike back out — and we had a rude surprise! — mosquitos came out in swarms looking for a snack!
Even though the mosquitos feasted on us it was still a really great hike!
Hiking Hickman Bridge
Thursday we set an early alarm, woke up, and drove to the Hickman Bridge Trailhead so we could hike up before the crowds — and I’m so glad we did!
It’s hard to appreciate the scale of this 133 foot natural bridge — photos just don’t do it justice!
We had it all to ourselves for a bit and I even did a quick sketch:
On the way back we noticed some prickly pear cacti blooming that weren’t open on the way up:
What a great way to start the day! And I was extra glad that we hiked before breakfast, because the parking lot was full when we finished — there were even people parking along the road!
Pleasant Creek Trail
We decided to take the Scenic Drive south to the Pleasant Creek Trailhead and make breakfast there since it seemed to be a much less crowded part of the park. We ended up eating breakfast at 11 am, ha!
After our feast of oatmeal with blueberries we hiked part of Pleasant Creek. The park service website says this is an unmaintained trail — and they weren’t joking! We tried following the creek west for about a mile but it was just too hard and my legs were getting all scratched up since I was wearing shorts. Bad call!
We gave up and hiked the old dirt road instead, occasionally making detours over to the creek. We stopped for a snack and I did a quick sketch. It was so peaceful and relaxing.
We then headed back down the way we came. I wish you could smell the sagebrush lining part of the old road — it smelled amazing.
Henry was waiting for us at the trailhead — a welcome sight for sore legs!
We hiked past the van and took the trail a bit on east side — and we realized that we should have done this side of the trail instead as the going was MUCH easier. Next trip!
Sunset at Danish Hill
By this time we were pretty hungry for lunch/dinner — linner? We didn’t want to go back to the campground to cook, so we stopped at Danish Hill — our first stop on the Scenic Drive on the way in — the perfect bookend to our time here.
The sun started setting just as we finished eating, so we hiked up the hill to watch it. I couldn’t stop taking photos!
The cliffs just seemed to glow:
I’ve never seen clouds quite like this:
Wow. Just wow.
After we did the dishes and got everything put away we went for one last little walk and saw the moonrise:
What an amazing day.
Farewell, Capitol Reef
Friday we said farewell to Capitol Reef, but not without stopping at the Gooseneck Overlook and Panorama Point:
We can’t wait to get back here someday when we can spend more time.
Hello, Great Basin National Park, Nevada
After leaving Capitol Reef we drove 4 hours to Great Basin National Park, Nevada, with a stop in Richfield along the way to do laundry and stock up on groceries.
I’ve always wanted to come here — I almost can’t believe we’re really here!
We got to camp after the Visitor Center had closed for the day, so on Saturday we stopped by first thing to watch the park film — it’s a really good one:
Here’s a bit about the park in case you haven’t been here before:
From the 13,063-foot summit of Wheeler Peak [in the southern Snake Range] to the sagebrush-covered foothills, Great Basin National Park hosts a sample of the incredible diversity of the larger Great Basin region. Come and partake of the solitude of the wilderness, walk among ancient bristlecone pines, bask in the darkest of night skies, and explore mysterious subterranean passages. There's a lot more than just desert here.
The park also has some of the darkest skies in the lower 48 states:
Recognized by Dark Sky International (formerly the International Dark Sky Association) as one of the premier International Dark Sky Parks within the United States, you can stand nearly anywhere within the park's boundaries and gaze in awe at the endless space above you. Great Basin is committed to reducing our own light pollution footprint by using red exterior lights, turning white lights off during the night, and using motion detectors to ensure lights are only on when needed. We also measure the brightness of our skies monthly to ensure no light encroaches on the park and our night skies stay as pristine as possible.
Another thing Great Basin National Park is known for is its populations of Great Basin bristlecone pines. When we first got to the park the road to the trailhead to see them was still closed for the winter, so we were contemplating doing an overnight backpacking trip so we could get up there.
It was gonna be a cold night since it’s still getting down in the low 20’s up there. But luckily today — May 5th — they opened the road up to the trailhead. Woo hoo! Can’t wait to go hiking tomorrow!
That’s a Wrap
That’s it for this week — whew! Thanks for following along on our adventures — it really means so much to have you along for the ride.
Next week I’ll have some special art news to share with you — stay tuned! — Lisa, Jason, and Henry-the-Van
I really enjoy following along your adventures. We’re not able to hike much but we still enjoy the outdoors and I do love when you share your paintings and sketches. Are you about to share your colors you used in your Demi palette for the arch painting? I also assume you switch them out when you move to different places.
When we visited Capitol Reef in 2024, we disappointingly found Scenic Drive closed for repaving south of the Gifford House area. Regarding lunch/dinner —> linner, Eve and I similarly use lupper as a portmanteau for lunch/supper.