Capitol Reef National Park is located in south-central Utah. The park comprises of 378 square miles of colorful narrow canyons, ridges, buttes, arches, spires, domes and monoliths. Capitol Reef is the name of an especially rugged and spectacular part of the Waterpocket Fold near the Fremont River. It is a nearly 100-mile long warp in the Eart's crust, stretching from the Fishlake Mountains in central Utah to Lake Powell in the south. It is a classic monocline: a regional fold with one very steep side in an area of otherwise nearly horizontal layers. A monocline is a step-up in the rock layers. The rock layers on the west side of the Waterpocket Fold have been lifted more than 7000 feet higher than the layers on the east. Major folds are almost always associated with underlying faults. Erosion has carved the rock into marvelous shapes. This is an inviting wilderness of rock with descriptive names such as Capitol Dome, Hickman Bridge, Grand Wash and Cathedral Valley.

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