Golden Throne Trail in Rain

Overview

The 7042 ft high Golden Throne is an impressive tower that rises above Capitol Gorge in Utah’s Capitol Reef National Park. A 2 mile long trail starts in Capitol Gorge and takes you 700 vertical feet up to a spot at 6130 ft at some distance from the base of Golden Throne where you can get a good view of it.

The forecast for the day that I did this hike called for rain starting at 9-10 a.m. I had hoped to get the hike done before the start of the rain.

The Hike

Started my hike at Capitol Gorge Trailhead at 7:25 a.m. Nobody was there at that hour. I could see black clouds to the east and west but the clouds directly above me looked thin. It was 46 degrees F. Went to the west side of the parking area and began to follow the trail up the slick-rock slopes.

Road below and slick-rock mountains to the south.

Black clouds to the west.

A canyon by the trail.

It was not even 8 a.m. when it began to rain slowly. I had my rain pants on. Stopped to put my raincoat and backpack cover on. My knee that I had injured two months prior to that still did not feel right. I was unhappy about that but at least I could still hike.

I then reached a place where I got a glimpse of the southeastern face of Golden Throne before it went away again.

Another canyon.

The south face of Golden Throne came to view.

Looking back.

Although it was not raining hard, everything had become soaking wet.

Reached the end of the trail at 8:25. Southwestern face of Golden Throne.

Looking south and west.

Rain became harder. Retraced my way and reached the car by 9:25.