Fruita, UT

Learn about Mormon pioneers at the historic farmhouse and visitor center and embark on scenic treks to see petroglyphs and arches.

Fruita is a historic base in a scenic valley of Capitol Reef National ParkOpens in a new window. It’s the park’s administrative center and contains surviving relics from early Mormon pioneers. Piece together the intriguing history of this settlement through its homestead and visitor center.

While most of the houses have disappeared, the Gifford Homestead remains an enlightening example of Mormon pioneering lifestyle. It includes a barn, a smokehouse and the main home, where you can enjoy baked pies and cinnamon rolls.

See the schoolhouse for a glimpse into the past. Stay at the adjacent Fruita Campground to sleep under the stars. Watch for rabbits and deer quietly moving across the open areas.

For a sense of the region’s history before the Mormon pioneers, take a short hike with your family to the Petroglyphs. Gaze up at the large slab of works of art carved onto a red rock wall by the Fremont and Ancestral Puebloan peoples. The engravings include animals, crops, and human-like figures.

Appreciate the majestic scenery of the Fruita region, which comprises a green valley with orchards surrounded by the iconic red rocks of the national park. Have a picnic beside one of the roughly 3,100 trees that make up Fruita’s orchard.

Try the Hickman Bridge Trail to encounter a granary and an old pit house. The trail offers excellent views of the Fremont River. Arrive at the Hickman Natural Bridge, an enormous arch that frames a vista of red mountains.

The old community stands at the meeting point of the Fremont River and Sulphur Creek in the center of Capitol Reef National Park. Drive south from Salt Lake City for 225 miles (362 kilometers) to get here and leave your car in one of the parking lots. Visit nearby parks, such as Fishlake National Forest, the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and Dixie National Forest.

Find Fruita’s historical and verdant oasis at the heart of this red-rock national park.