Water In The Desert

There is water in Capitol Reef, which is one of the things that makes this country so good. But it is desert water, and it asks you to pay attention.

The Fremont River runs through Fruita. Sulphur Creek comes down out of the hills and joins it near the old settlement. Most of the time, that little bit of green and moving water is exactly what makes a drive through the park seem pretty unlikely. Rock, rock, rock. Then cottonwoods and a creek.

And right now, there is a practical reason to keep your distance.

Water changes the whole look of the desert. Photo by Alex Moliski via Unsplash.

A Current Advisory

The National Park Service has an active water-quality advisory for the Fremont River and Sulphur Creek after testing found elevated E. coli levels. The useful instruction is plain: do not swim, do not get the water in your mouth, and wash your hands with soap and water after contact.

That does not make the park any less worth seeing. But getting in the water is off the list this week. There are plenty of good ways to see it. Take the drive through Fruita. Stand under the cottonwoods for a minute. Watch the creek make its way through all that red rock and remember that it has been doing its own thing for a long time.

“But we came to play in the creek,” we hear you say. We know. But the water is still off the list.

Keep An Eye On The Sky Too

September can still bring a hard rain to this country. The park’s conditions page is the place to check before a hike that uses a wash or canyon, because water that looks harmless one minute can be somewhere else the next. The park’s active alert says not to drive or hike through flood water. Good rule.

We have written about monsoon season in Southern Utah before, and the advice has not gotten old: have a plan, watch the weather, and stay out of the water’s way.

A wash is part of the scenery until it is not. Photo by Kelly vanDellen via Shutterstock.

The Rest Of The Day Is Still There

There is no shortage of dry ground in Capitol Reef. Go find a trail that stays where it ought to. Take the Scenic Drive. Look at the water from the bank and check out the cottonwoods.

And then go have a good day. Just keep the river out of the itinerary for now.