Fruita Campground Capitol Reef National Park

We arrived here on July 17 for four nights.  We were received by a pack of deer, who did not appear to be afraid of people.  And they were very curious about our dog Buddy.  I had to actually walk between them on the street to detach our toad and park into our site.  These sites are all dry camping and generators were limited to use between 8:00 - 10:00 in the morning and 6:00 to 8:00 pm in the evening.  Our site was relatively level and all sites seemed to be comfortably distanced from neighbors.  No over the air TV here and no cell phone either.  There were ranger programs every day in the morning, afternoon, and evening.  We enjoyed the evening programs about bats, fossils, the local tribes in the area, and how water has formed life and landscape in the area.  This park was set up like a city park with green grass between sites and a large community grass area behind the tent and RV's.  There were many large shade trees which provided much needed relief in the 100 degree weather.  We enjoyed watching families play volleyball and kids riding bicycles and skate boards through the park.  We paid $10 per night with our Senior pass which was 1/2 discount and it was a great value.  I rate this park F****.  

We took a day trip to Bullfrog Marina on the North Side of Lake Powell on the Colorado River which was a 2 hour drive in each direction.   As we placed the Tahoe in all wheel drive to push through the soft sand near the water, we set up some chairs and hopped into the unusually 82 degree warm water of the Colorado River.  Buddy also went for a tethered swim.   This is a fee area National Park, but with our America The Beautiful pass, it was free to us.  

We toured Capitol Reef by car and drove along a 10 mile scenic drive.  We drove part of the Grand Wash on a dirt road, but rain was threatening so we cut that short as it floods in the rain.  We hiked a boardwalk and observed ancient petroglyphs and toured some old buildings including a school house.  One of the buildings was converted into a gift shop and homemade pies.  Everyone raved about these individual sized pies for $6.50 apiece.