From Moab to Richfield, Utah

San Rafael scenic view area westbound on I-70.

                                           

Today was a day of travel from Moab, Utah, to our new home base of Richfield, Utah.  We are staying at a KOA in Richfield and it's a good campground with lots of trees and with excellent free wifi.  Tomorrow we will go on a day trip in the car to Capitol Reef National Park, the final Grand Circle national park that we are touring.  We chose to stay in Richfield to tour the park because this was the town with the lowest elevation we could find that was somewhat near Capitol Reef.  Richfield turned out to be a nice small town with a mid-western feel.  It's at an elevation of 5280 feet and mountains loom all around the town.

The drive to Richfield took us west on I-70, where we discovered some more spectacular scenery, right along the freeway.  In fact they had both rest areas (which were open, unlike Arizona's) and scenic view areas, most of which had restrooms also.  In many cases, they were only ten miles apart. 

Spectacular Utah rocks along I-70 westbound.

San Rafael Reef scenic view.

Black Dragon Canyon scenic view. 

Here the freeway reached an elevation of 7270, and climbing through the Wasatch Mountains, we reached almost 8000 feet.

Across the freeway, this was the eastbound scenic view.

As we drove further west along I-70, the scenery changed to multi-colored hills.

To quote a t-shirt seen in a national park gift shop, UTAH ROCKS!