Due to a combination of heat and drought, fall in Salt Lake City was not as colorful last year as it has been in the past, and this year is starting to look like it will be similar. So we decided to head south to look for fall.
We started in Bryce Canyon National Park where we hiked the Navajo Trail which loops from Sunset Point to the valley floor and back again.
Then we headed out on scenic highway 12 toward Capitol Reef National Park.
Fall wasn’t much easier to find in southern Utah than in northern Utah, but it was still pretty!
Some fall!
We made it to Capitol Reef in time for some nice golden hour lighting.
I’d looked up a vegan-friendly Mexican place before we left, but wasn’t able to find it again since there was no cell service in Capitol Reef or its neighboring town of Torrey. We found two restaurants in Torrey with Spanish names (good thing it’s a small town), and Jeff felt that this one (La Cueva) looked more promising. Yep! They had both vegetarian and vegan options. We had bean, rice, and vegetable-filled burritos with no cheese or sour cream. The vegetable filling included exciting things like broccoli and squash instead of the usual peppers and onions, and the beans and rice were both vegan and flavorful.
Back in Salt Lake City I took Jeff on the Willow Lake hike. Two weeks after my last Willow Lake hike, all the leaves are gone. (These are the same trees in my opening shot from that hike’s blog.)
Leaves fluttering on scenic highway 12, and deer in Capitol Reef National Park.