2004…It had been two years since our visit to Capitol Reef National Park. We’d had a fantastic time exploring that new world located in Nowhere, Utah, where the term “wilderness” took on a whole new meaning. We were planning on going back because we knew there was much more to see and do. Our first visit was merely a stop-along-the-way to our primary goal: An in-depth visit of Bryce Canyon. Our stop at the Reef proved to be fateful as it was a huge success that overwhelmed us and begged our return. We had seen Capitol Wash, Hickman Bridge, Capitol Gorge, Chimney Rock and the incredible Cassidy Arch and were dying for more, even as we departed for Bryce. Alas, our return to the Reef would be postponed yet another year.
Then on a fateful day in 2004, I was thumbing through a photography magazine when I flipped the page to see a spectacular color photo of an arch. Bathed in gorgeous red light with a blue sky, this picture lunged at me from that printed page, as if to shake me violently and proclaim “Here I am! Find me!” Judging from the bizarre landscape, my mind immediately honed in on the obvious fact that the scene was captured somewhere in Utah. I searched for a caption and by-line, and there it was up in the right hand corner. The photographer’s name was Tom something-or-other. (Maybe he’ll by chance read this report and contact me). The caption was painfully simple and lacked any specific information, except for the most important words: Capitol Reef National Park.
This incredible photo had me almost leaping from my seat. All I could think was “Man, I have got to go see this arch in person!” Being familiar with the Reef, I figured the pointed summit in the background, seen through the arch itself was undoubtedly Ferns Nipple. But it would be quite some time before I even came close to confirming this. With nothing more to go on, thus began my quest to see this incredible, unnamed arch, located two clicks east of nowhere in Capitol Reef. I tore the picture out of the magazine and stowed it away.
What were the chances of finding this formation in a place full of thousands of formations? Pretty slim, save for my one clue. That was Ferns Nipple in the background, damn it! Judging by how the picture was oriented, the photographer had his camera pointed south along the length of the Reef, and he was obviously in a high location. I knew the Reef pretty well, having studied the lay of the land extensively since our visit. I figured that location was high on the mesa overlooking Fruita, somewhere south of Cohab Canyon and north of Cassidy Arch. But there had to be a way to narrow down the search parameters. Someone obviously had been there before, perhaps some locals. I had to find out what I could, because I couldn’t waste my precious time scouring Capitol Reef for this one formation when there was so much to do in such precious little time.
Ellen and I planned on returning to the Reef and a priority would be the location of the arch. With that, I scanned the photo and cropped it a bit, stowed it away once more and let the matter rest until the time approached for our return to the Reef.
Fast forward to April, 2005. I’d been having gall bladder trouble, but we decided not to let that ruin our plans and we took off for the Reef. We took our laptop computer in case we needed to refer to information concerning the Reef or to look in on SummitPost. We planned on showing some photographs to Erika, our wonderful hostess at the Torrey Pines B&B Inn, whom we stayed with on our last visit. We were also hoping she might know the location of the mysterious arch, as she and her family have done plenty of hiking in the Reef. My cropped photo was in the computer, ready to show to anyone. We had dinner in Denver, then took off for Grand Junction, where we would spend the night and get an early start for Capitol Reef the next day.
My gall bladder had other plans and I suffered a severe attack that evening. Sparing you, the reader of this report, the sordid details, we retreated for home. With me in such condition, it was foolish to think we were going to go hiking in an isolated place like Capitol Reef and expect nothing to happen. We called Erika, who was very understanding and rescheduled our visit for October. I had the gall bladder removed two weeks later. My recovery went smoothly, I didn’t miss out on any climbing and when October rolled around, we were bound for the Reef.
Upon our arrival, we showed Erika some photos on our computer, and finally got around to showing her THE picture, hoping she knew the location of THE arch. She did not. Bummer. She did agree that the peak in the background was probably Ferns Nipple. We took the laptop to the Visitor’s Center and showed the photo to a ranger. He too was fairly certain that my reasoning was right on the money. He suggested contacting the photographer. I had left the print at home and the cropped image did not have the caption and by-line! Oh well. The ranger agreed that was Ferns Nipple, the view was looking south along the Reef and it was probably located off of the Frying Pan Trail. We had no plans to do the Frying Pan, having done part of it on our last visit to see Cassidy Arch. But we could do a new portion of it from Cohab Canyon, which was on our to-do list. We looked at a map and studied the topography of the Reef, which is very complex, to say the least. We agreed that it was at least a reasonable assumption that the arch was located somewhere atop the mesa south of Cohab Canyon, but the ranger had never personally seen the formation before, either. So essentially, we were still going on nothing more than what I had already deduced. Even if we didn’t find it, the ranger assured us we’d have a great time exploring that area of the Park.Cohab Canyon
Vistas Open Up South of Cohab Canyon We decided to explore Cohab Canyon in the process, executing the west entrance to the canyon first from the Fruita Barn. We could descend the canyon to the Frying Pan trail, but we wanted to see the entire canyon, too. We decided to check out the two spur trails which led to overlooks and then return to our vehicle. We would then drive around to the other end of the canyon and take the trail up to the Frying Pan trail, thus seeing the entire canyon in one day and looking for the mysterious arch.
View from the trail When we reached the Frying Pan Trail, indicated by a small sign atop a ledge overlooking Cohab Canyon, a sense of adventure overcame me. This was new territory for us, and we were going to see a very wild landscape lots of folks never see. Finding the arch would be the bonus. I was already insufferably happy just being back at Capitol Reef, and that was good enough.
Bizarre Rocks Along the Trail The Frying Pan Trail gained altitude steadily, leading us up through pinions and countless rock formations. The silence was impressively numbing, and we had the entire, bizarre landscape to ourselves. We were surrounded by Navajo Sandstone summits, slickrock slabs, pinnacles, spires, balanced rocks and formations that defy description. Colors ran the gamut of the spectrum, and the sheer volume of interesting items was overwhelming. Finding the arch was quickly becoming an admitted impossibility, but that was okay. We were having a great time doing what we wanted to do-return to Capitol Reef and explore it for as much as we could stand.
Balanced Rock along the trail The trail rounded a balanced rock, then topped out on a ridge line and dropped into the next draw south of Cohab Canyon. This lonely place was as quiet as anywhere I had ever been—even quieter than the mountains of Colorado. There was no wind and no water. Just sun, rock, sand and us. We paused for lunch in some shade that would soon go away, then resumed our walk up the trail as it climbed to the south rim of the canyon.
Descending into the next shallow draw Once on the rim, we were poised on a high, flat area dotted with scrubby trees and rock towers. To the south was the continuation of the Reef, as well as Ferns Nipple. Comparing the view to the image of the arch in my head, the angle was right, but where could the arch be in such a complex landscape? Should we continue further on the trail? For all we knew, the trail might go right past the thing. If we didn’t see it before the junction with the Cassidy Arch Trail, we probably weren’t going to find it.
We hesitantly walked the trail a bit more. Now on a gravelly flat amidst some trees and rocks, the view to the south was obscured, and the trail showed no signs of regaining altitude. My instincts stopped me in my tracks within minutes of deciding to follow the trail. This was not the right course of action. We needed to find a high spot.
Ferns Nipple is almost obscured by the surrounding brush Well, there were lots of possibilities. Ellen thought we should go east. I thought we should go west. Ellen took a GPS coordinate on the trail and we left it, entering the wild, untraveled maze of Capitol Reef. We tried east first, wandering around some rock spires, but came up with nothing. Checking the views of Ferns Nipple, there were too many trees and brush in the foreground. I only recalled the buff colored Navajo Sandstone knobs in the foreground, also suggesting a drop in the landscape between the arch and Ferns Nipple to see such a view.
We attained the high ground for a better view We returned to the trail and ventured west. Some high ground was back to the north from our position. I angled toward those rocks, thinking their view would surely be unimpeded. They were farther away than they appeared, and we found ourselves winding our way through brush and boulders strewn across the dark brown graveled mesa top. I knew we would soon run out of land and arrive at the western edge of the mesa. This would likely deplete our chances at success, but also put us in a favorable position to see a view similar to that in the picture.
Then we came across something we least expected to see. As I stepped over a rock-voila-footprints! I showed them to Ellen. Having some tracking experience, I assumed they had been there a while. Ellen wasn’t quick to agree with me, suggesting they were more recent and that the prevailing west winds would have wiped out the photographer’s footprints from since 2004 or before. But why else would they be there? If not for the arch, then what was up here that would draw someone from the trail in the first place unless they previously KNEW about something that was up here? Ellen countered that someone could have simply wandered around and we just happened upon their footprints some time later. Fair enough, but the ground in which the prints were laid was gravelly, not sandy, so they could have withstood even strong winds. Hope and excitement started to build within me. If not the arch, we were about to make a really cool discovery. I was thinking something like a pothole arch on the edge of the mesa, including an awesome view looking to the west and Boulder Mountain.
We followed the footprints. We had nothing to lose by doing so. The tracks led us into a draw, which funneled us down through some rocks onto a ledge facing south. To the west the land fell away. We had reached the edge of the mesa, and the view was indeed impressive. To the south was the Reef, Navajo knobs in the foreground, dotted with brush, and Ferns Nipple on the horizon. The view was very similar to the photo. But there was no arch.
Upon taking in this view, Ellen and I felt we were close. We looked for any sign of blue sky peeping through any rock. We figured it had to be fairly large to be noticed in such a way for the photographer to have spotted it in the first place. I then remembered the brief article accompanying the picture, which had won a photo contest. The photographer had been asked how he got the picture. It was assumed he had waited around for the right light. The photographer simply replied that he stumbled onto the shot and was just lucky. He snapped away, just barely catching the last of the light. I had not realized it when initially reading his statement that this too was a clue. I turned to Ellen and said, “What if the arch isn’t even big at all? What if it’s small? How else would he have stumbled onto the scene when a large arch would provide plenty of opportunity for selecting an angle?”
The picture had nothing to suggest the scale of the arch. Hell, it might not even be an arch. It might just be a rock with a hole in it! With that photo ingrained on my brain, I scampered down the rocks due south, full of anticipation. Something told me we were oh-so-close! I paused. I saw a rock with a hole in it. I stepped down onto the gravel and approached slowly through some scrubby brush. Ellen was close behind. “Look,” I said, pointing. “I think that’s it.”
“Is that it?” Ellen replied. “It can’t be. It’s too small.” I approached it, looking up at it, and caught Ferns Nipple through the opening. I then noticed the gnarled top of the formation. Those features were unforgettable. Sharp edges, and plenty of holes and cracks from eons of erosion. Beneath, the softer core of the rock had worn away in a precarious, overhanging fashion in which erosion had sculpted a twisted masterpiece beyond description. I stepped up to the feature, climbed up beside it and…
It was 3 feet high!
But we found it! And even more amazing is that it was so small! A rocky needle eye in a haystack of stone! Out came the cameras. I first shot a picture recreating the photo. We looked at the result and we were then convinced this was the very spot that photographer had stood to take his picture. He was here at dusk. We had arrived in the mid afternoon, so our results weren’t as dramatic. We shot plenty of pictures though, and we were anxious to get back and tell Erika and the ranger about our discovery.
Looking back, what were the chances of finding this tiny and unique creation? Pretty good, actually, knowing what we knew. We had the benefit of some orienteering skills and some confirming help from a Reef ranger, and we had my knowledge of the Park and familiarizing myself with complex landscapes, a talent I’ve been lucky to possess all of my life. It was fun to not only be on a hike in Capitol Reef and explore the hidden wonders there, but to be searching for something. That made it extra interesting and challenging. It was like looking for treasure!
And treasure we found, high on that deserted mesa. The treasure of a new and special place, the joy of hiking in a magical land called Capitol Reef with our favorite hiking partner, sharing the anticipation and excitement of a new discovery together. That was the treasure, and I know we’ll find many more in our years to come, and some of those will be found when we return to the Reef. Images
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