Hickman Bridge Trail

Our time here at Capitol is coming quickly to an end and one hike we wanted to do was hike to the Hickman Bridge (arch) within the park.  It is rated as moderate and felt we could manage it.  The notable thing about this hike was it is the first real test of my foot's recovery from surgery of last year.  We have walked (casual hiked) but nothing strenuous. Packed snacks and water and off we went. Viewed the info board that explains the trails located at the trail head and decided that Hickman was the one to do, we did not want to travel to the overlook of the canyon.

Notice the elevation gain of this trail

Start of hike along Fremont River

Raw wilderness

First glimpse of Hickman Bridge

Notice man standing at bottom left - to get a feel how big it is

Our view while resting

Capitol Dome from the upper hiking trail

The hike takes you up into one of the upper canyons of the park, having great vista views of the park's namesake - Capitol Dome.  Up into meadows filled with cacti just beginning to flower, long grasses, juniper bushes, some type of evergreen bushes.  Pretty yellow clumps of flowers, lilac persimmon flowers, just a nice hike.  And, very few people on the trail which was good because at times the path is very very narrow and steep if you fell off.

Deceiving - maybe a mile across from where we were

Lovely!

The rock formations were amazing.  From rain runoff of the towering cliffs you could see where pockets of water holes were, still filled with water.  And we continued on until we rounded a curve and wham!  There it was.  The bridge spans 133 feet across and I can only guess the depth of the arch was about 100 feet.  Pretty impressive to see.

Stopped under a shade of a juniper bush and had our snacks and replenished our energy, and back we went.  Along washes filled with animal tracks in the sand, only the sound of the wind rushing through the canyon, no birds chirping, so very quiet.  Up and down we climbed to near 1000 feet of where we started and hiked down along the Fremont River back to the parking area. Very happy that we did this walk, my foot did not give me any problems.  We were exhausted when we got back to the car and a little dehydrated even though we took plenty of water.  Glorious day hiking in Capitol Reel.

Castle Rock