Friday, May 24th, I embarked on on my two night adventure into the very remote Cathedral Valley. Given all the popular turn-outs, the loop comes out to being around 67 miles. While it's typically referred to as a part of Capitol Reef National Park, the loop also goes through large stretches of BLM land, which lends to some interesting camping opportunities.

The above map is the route I took, along with a number of interesting stops I researched ahead of time. I also marked a few interesting potential dispersed campsites I saw while out there, but it is by no means complete. You can download my KML file to import into your favorite map viewer/editor. There are some other guides out here, including a pamphlet I've heard you can buy at the visitor center (I did not confirm this), but no one has yet to put it into a KML file until now. Or at least, I couldn't find one.

Day 1 - Crossing the Fremont River

While the reality is that there are some rougher roads to come, I was probably most afraid of the river crossing. You literally have to drive into the river on one side, then drive down the river for a bit, and then exit on the other side. While I was fairly sure my car (a completely stock SR5 4Runner) would have no issues with this, I was still wary.

So, I get there, get out, look at the river and evaluate whether I can actually do it or not. After things look ok, I turn on my satellite tracker, and hop back into the car just as someone else pulls in behind me. I'm pretty sure they thought I was giving up though, because they start immediately backing up.

I just go for it. To be honest, it was so quick that it was all kind of blur. A couple minutes later, I was on the other side.

While I'm silently celebrating my victory, the car behind me nonchalantly crosses the river and flies past me. I'm not nearly as cool as that guy.

So, the weather for that day was "dust". Yes, my weather app literally said, "dust". This turned out to be surprisingly accurate. The wind that day was pretty extreme, and as I was driving, there were frequent little sand storms. Also, in the horizon, what looked like fog, was actually just a shit ton of dust.

The cool thing about this though, is it really added to the other-worldly sensation of driving the loop, especially once I hit the Bentonite Hills. I don't think I would have enjoyed the scenery nearly as much with different weather!

The other notable stop of the day was Jailhouse Rock (Used as this post's opening photo). Just a short 1/4 mile hike in and you get to see this rather incredible view.

Anyway, the first day was primarily just enjoying the drive. This side of the loop is a bit more difficult and rougher than the other side. Combining that with it being towards the end of the day, I only actually saw maybe two other cars the entire drive.

It was really great, but I was far from alone...

I rolled into my first stop for the night around 5:30PM: Cathedral Valley Campground.

Given that the campground has only six sites, all first come first serve, I was a bit skeptical I'd actually find a spot that late in the day on a Friday. Though, I figured if all else failed I could go camp out in the nearby Fishlake National Forest.

But, it's also very remote. Sure enough, there were two spots left. One with a great view, but very exposed, and the other surrounded by trees. I was scared of the wind picking up again, so I picked the more secluded site.

About a half hour later, someone did take the last spot, and maybe an hour or two after that, I saw someone roll in attempting to find a spot. It's apparently gotten more popular than the little you can find online about it suggests.

The sites were spaced pretty far apart and everyone there was almost eerily quiet, but I still was not alone...

Day 2 - What should have been my last day in the loop

The second half of the Cathedral Valley loop is much more popular. There's no river crossing and there are no parts of the road that look like this:

So, I saw a lot more people driving just that half of the loop. It also wasn't quite as spectacular as the first half, but I'm not complaining either.

I made a stop at the Morrel Line Cabin, got a little 2.5 mile hike in on the Cathedrals Trail, and paid my respects at the temples of the Sun and the Moon.

I was now at the point where I was starting to think about where I was going to sleep that night. I was originally thinking of heading out to the other primitive campground in Capitol Reef (I did actually end up camping there a bit later for a couple nights). However, it was pretty far and I was getting a bit tired.

Since I've primarily been camping, it also meant I had enough supplies, food, and water on hand to go pretty much anywhere for days without re-supplying. So, I kept an eye out for some interesting BLM spots once I got past the Valley of the Sun.

I saw a few places (and even marked some on the KML file), but none excited me very much. That is, until I found this rough road going up somewhere in the middle of this big valley. So, I parked, walked up the road to scope it out, and came across quite the incredible campsite. The fire ring was pretty pathetic, but it was clear that it's a spot others have used before.

So, I set up camp and just sat out looking at the view for a few hours.

I should note that the campsite was far from perfect. At times, the wind really picked up, which worried me about spending the night there. It also made it extremely difficult to cook. But, I have no regrets!

It was getting a bit late (past 5PM) and I only saw a few cars driving the loop at that point. So, I still didn't feel quite alone.

One of the last cars I saw was a bit of an odd experience though...

At around 7 or 8PM, this low clearance van, that probably had no business going up the unmarked road to my campsite, comes rolling up. I thought maybe they just didn't see my car. That, or they saw my car, thinking it was an interesting spot, but failed to see my tent somehow as they got closer.

I walk up and ask if they need any help, since it was both late and odd for someone to drive into someone else's occupied campsite, but the driver just quietly said no, and looked away.

Then, in complete silence, this group of maybe 5 or 6 Asian tourists get out of the car, and proceed to take pictures. It was weird, and I think I was so taken aback, that I didn't even know what to say.

Then, in the same degree of silence, they got back in, realized their car couldn't actually drive the little turn-around due to the terrain, performed an awkward Y-Turn, then drove off without a word.

It was weird...

Eventually, it starts to get dark.

Hours go by without any cars.

There are no lights anywhere.

The closest I knew anyone may be was at the Temple of the Sun, where I saw a couple people setting up camp on the BLM land boundary. That's 10.5 miles away...

It was just me. Completely alone.

There was this bush...

I was pretty sure it was a bear.

There are no bears in Cathedral Valley (I think)...

I keep shining my headlamp at it to confirm it's just a bush. As soon as I take my light off it though, it looks alive again.

That fucking bush.

So, I end up walking up to it just to confirm it is, in fact, a bush.

I think this may have been the first time in my life I have been alone to that extent. While I do want to do more camping like that again -- it was scary.

The next day, when I went and camped at the Cedar Mesa Campground, I found the noises of people talking and moving about surprisingly comforting. Normally, I'd be mildly annoyed.

Despite everything, I definitely want to do something similar again in the near future! I just hope that bush doesn't attack...