Chimney Rock Loop

Chimney Rock Loop circles the base and summit ridge of a dramatic erosional remnant — a tall spire of Moenkopi Formation capped by a harder Shinarump Conglomerate plug that has resisted erosion while the surrounding rock was stripped away. The formation stands at the western entrance to Capitol Reef, visible from the park road and Highway 24 as a distinctive tower silhouetted against the Waterpocket Fold. The loop climbs steeply from the trailhead on slippery clay-rich Moenkopi slopes before gaining the ridge above.

From the ridge top, the panorama extends across the Waterpocket Fold's dramatic tilted geology — layers of sandstone, shale, and limestone buckled upward in a 100-mile-long monocline — and across the high desert plateau toward Boulder Mountain on the west. The Fremont River valley below contains the park's historic fruit orchards, planted by Mormon settlers in the 1880s and still maintained by the NPS; visitors can pick fruit in season. The trail crosses undulating terrain on the ridge before descending an alternate route back to the trailhead. The clay surface is impassable when wet and becomes dangerously slippery; clear dry conditions are essential.