Wattreach

Day 28 / 31

Day 27 Day 29

Wednesday, June 10, 2026

Chimney Rock + petroglyphs, then the back road to Bryce

A truck-only morning in Capitol Reef, the Chimney Rock climb, the visitor center, and the Fremont petroglyph panel, then hitch up at 74% and take the John's Valley back road through Antimony to Ruby's Inn at Bryce Canyon, rolling in at 1 percent.

Weather: Clear and 75 F in the park by mid-morning, 88 F at the 7,675 ft Bryce arrival, west wind 16 to 23 mph gusting 32 across the high valleys.

The author standing on bare slickrock at the Chimney Rock saddle in Capitol Reef, looking out over the red cliffs and the Waterpocket Fold country
Day 28 Up on the saddle slickrock at 9:27, taking in what the Fremont people looked at a thousand years before us.

The day, by the numbers

  1. Miles driven133.3mi
  2. Towing efficiency1.25mi / kWh133.3 mi · 107 kWh
  3. Energy107kWh used · 83 kWh charged across 1 session
  4. Peak charge rate8kW
  5. Wind20mph WMostly headwind
  6. Temperature88°F66 – 88°F range
  7. Peak elevation8,385ft↑ 11,890 ft↓ 11,090 ft
  8. Avg speed37mph · 3.7 hr moving
Photographs

Day 28 in pictures

Every photo from this trip → Browse all our photo galleries →

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Stops, in order

The day

  1. start

    Thousand Lakes RV Park, morning

    Woke up full off the overnight 50A and rolled out at 8:51 AM, truck-only, past the Welcome to Torrey stone; the trailer stays on the site until checkout.

    Segment data Map 38.3036, -111.4372

  2. must do

    Capitol Reef NP, Chimney Rock

    First stop in the park, the Chimney Rock trail at 9:09 AM. Climbed about 300 ft toward the saddle for the spire and the Waterpocket country behind it, honeycomb tafoni weathering in the Wingate the whole way up.

    Map Official site 38.3176, -111.3002

  3. must do

    Capitol Reef NP, Visitor Center

    The visitor center under the Castle formation. Maps, the park film, and the lay of the Waterpocket Fold.

    Map Official site 38.2912, -111.2615

  4. must do

    Capitol Reef NP, Fremont Petroglyph Panel

    The boardwalk pull-out on UT-24 at 10:14 AM. Fremont-culture figures pecked into the desert varnish a thousand years ago, faint in the morning sidelight but unmistakable once your eye finds them.

    Map Official site 38.2885, -111.2424

  5. charge

    Thousand Lakes RV Park, check out + hitch

    Headwind on this leg 20 mph from the W Climbs this leg +1,150 ft

    Back at camp 10:40 AM. The morning loop by the un-reset Trip B: 83.7 minus last night's 56.4 = 27.3 truck-only miles on 11 kWh, 2.48 mi/kWh, nearly triple yesterday's 0.88 towing into the headwind. Took the 1 PM late checkout to hitch without hurry, then pointed the rig down the back road; no DCFC in Torrey, so the 74% off the 50A was the whole budget to Bryce.

    Segment data Map 38.3036, -111.4372

  6. photo

    John's Valley Road (UT-22), the back way to Bryce

    Headwind on this leg 20 mph from the W

    Not Boulder Mountain: with 74% and a trailer, the gentler back road won. UT-24 past Loa (the day's 8,385 ft high point), UT-62, then John's Valley Road south through Antimony, empty ranch country the whole way down to the Bryce turnoff. The instruments settled the route: the dash's 8,385 ft day-peak matches this road within 9 feet; Boulder Mountain would have read 9,636.

    Map 37.8710, -112.0050

  7. activity

    Cowboy's Buffet & Steak Room at Ruby's Inn (dinner)

    Headwind on this leg 20 mph from the W

    Walked over from the campsite for dinner at the Ruby's Inn steak house, the hundred-year-old lodge dining room across from the park road. No driving on 1% anyway.

    Map Official site 37.6685, -112.1577

  8. sleep

    Ruby's Inn RV Park & Campground (Bryce Canyon City)

    Rolled in at 5:20 PM with 1% state of charge, the closest-run arrival of the trip, 106.0 towing miles at 1.11 mi/kWh on the 74% that left Torrey. Set up under the ponderosas at 7,675 ft, straight onto the hookups. Bright and early tomorrow the Airstream goes INTO Bryce with us. Hoodoos at sunrise.

    Segment data Map Official site 37.6655, -112.1575

The Chimney Rock spire and red Wingate cliffs in Capitol Reef National Park backlit by the morning sun
Day 28 Chimney Rock backlit at 9 AM, first stop inside Capitol Reef.

Towing segments this day

The charge-to-charge data, leg by leg.

Every towing leg logged today off the Rivian dashboard, with its elevation profile. Open one for the full per-segment data: efficiency, energy, grade, wind, temperature, and battery state of charge.

San Diego Home DAY 28
Charging plan

Where the electrons come from

  • Campground 50A (full hookups)

    Thousand Lakes RV Park 50A (74% at checkout)

    The overnight 50A recovered the pack to 74% by checkout, not quite full after Tuesday's near-empty arrival. No DCFC in Torrey, so 74% was the whole budget for Capitol Reef plus the 106-mile tow to Bryce. It arrived with 1% to spare.

Detailed charging data

5 receipts, app screens, pedestal displays, and Rivian dashboard readouts. Click through with the arrows; tap the tile to view full size.

Trip A 5,438.1 trip-to-date before the hitch goes on, 27.3 of them from this morning's park loop.
Back at camp, Trip B 83.7 un-reset; minus last night's 56.4 the Capitol Reef loop ran 27.3 truck-only miles on 11 kWh, 2.48 mi/kWh.
Same reading with the leg average, 44 mph across the cumulative un-reset leg since the viewpoint.
The tow leg by Trip B, reset at the hitch this time, 106.0 mi at 1.11 mi/kWh into Ruby's with 1% left.
Same leg by time, 2h54m moving at 37 mph on the empty back road.
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Next on the trip

Day 29, Bryce hoodoos at sunrise, then on to Zion

The Airstream rides into Bryce for the rim, then the tunnel-free way to Zion: UT-14 over the 9,902 ft Markagunt crest and 6,100 ft of descent to La Verkin, the best towing leg of the whole trip at 1.88 mi/kWh.

149.3 mi · ~3.5 towing + Bryce local · return-leg
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