Day 47, Hanksville to Capitol Reef National Park, 40 miles

As we expected, the horrible mosquitos of Hanksville sucked the peace from our nights' sleep. Matt and I woke up at intervals slapping the air and scratching. In the morning, we took turns darting from the tent to the trailer and bikes; like troops going over the top before retreating to the trenches. These mozzies don't appear to have down-time. We felt relieved to be cycling out of Hanksville once we got some breakfast down us, both now looking like we have chicken pox. Worst campsite this trip! Onwards and upwards though.

The terrain of todays' ride featured some long uphills and lots of big, red rocks (says Sal, clearly no geologist.) Following the Freemont River, we passed through some impressive weathered Mesa on either side of our road (says Matt, the man with the map.) It reminded us a bit of a giant aggregates yard; big mounds of eroded gravel and sandstone. While we didn't pass any towns to speak of, as we were following the river there was less big open space than yesterday. Every day the terrain changes dramatically - even at our peddle pace.

Arriving at Capital Reef National Park, we saw some stone carvings in the cliff-face and more surprisingly amongst the rock and shrubland; an oasis of fruit trees. This turned out to be one of a series of 'Pick-Your-Own'  apple, peach and pear tree orchards. These were planted by Morman settlers, who only left their farms here in 1969. Their departure was our gain; we picked loads of peaches, weighed them and paid just 2 dollars for a peachy, juicy lunch-break.

The nearby visitors' centre suggested a few scenic canyonland walks in the vicinity. As we have a few days up our sleeve before meeting Bruce at Bryce, we opted to set up camp in the park and hit the canyons on foot. Matt was typically concerned about a lack of sufficient fuel, and I was hesitant to ride 11 miles to the next store. As fortune would have it (in an otherwise sparsely facilitated National park)-we happened upon a store selling handcrafted candles and more importantly, food. Loaded with sourdough bread, pies and Salsa, we this with our gear at the campsite and ran for the hills.

The route Matt had chosen was a bit of an uphill scramble (as usual)-but featured some slot canyons worth exploring. Matt took off like spiderman into a few gaps in the rockfaces, which I preferred to enjoy from afar. After some more uphill hiking we reached a rugged outlook, where we sat fairly knackered for some time. We are now retired back at camp, watching deer dart around the campsite. They must have missed the memo that it is now officially bow hunting season and they are literally fair game.

Having wolved down our dinner of bread, salsa and fruit pie (sounds odd but believe me it works)- we clambored back up the nearest ridge to watch the sunset. By the time we reached the peak, we'd missed the start of the show but still enjoyed a spectacular orange sky above red rock. Skipped back down the hill in twllight to hit the hay. Planning an early start tomorrow. Another day, another park!