July 2, 2026 Capitol Reef Petroglyphs

 Capitol Reef Petroglyphs

hikers: 3

distance: maybe a couple of miles

elevation gain: it was mostly flat with some ups and downs

After arriving at Capitol Reef and meeting up with Seth at our campground, he took us on a hike to see some petroglyphs. We took the Scenic Road to the Capitol Gorge Road. Then we went on the Pleasant Creek Road, which is not paved. Eventually we passed some old horse corrals and buildings. You could start hiking there but we went on a little ways to Pleasant Creek. There is parking and an outhouse. The road continues through the creek and on the other side but this is where we stopped because the hike we were going on started here. 

The Pleasant Creek road is still a fairly good road, dirt and bumps and all, but I don't think we would have gone on it in our car. You could take a car but high clearance is recommended and we were in the Highlander. We did not go through the creek. Maybe we could have. The road on the other side of the creek is the South Draw Road and the map says it is extremely rough, unmaintained; high clearance and four wheel drive required. 

Seth had found this hike as it is not listed on the general park map. He is a good one to explore with.

Pleasant Creek is aptly named.

We saw a lot of these cute little guys.

We continued on along the creek and crossed it at one point. I was hard to tell where the trail was. After hiking awhile we saw the fence across the creek and near the rocks. We knew that was the petroglyphs. We crossed back over the creek and through the brush to get to them. 

Mark and Seth went a little further. There are more petroglyphs in the area but they are not marked and we ended our hike here.

 

We started hiking back on a different trail but the trails are not well worn or well marked and we soon lost it. So we hiked back off trail and headed towards a field station that was up on a hill. This off trail hiking reminded me that Ethan and Jacob will soon be hiking off trail in Alaska! Only they won't have a field station to guide them. 

We ended up at the old horse coral and walked back to the car. 

We didn't see any other people and we were the only car in the parking lot. This was a really fun hike and I'm glad that Seth found it for us.