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Pick fruit from the historic orchards of Fruita in Capitol Reef National Park
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Apricots ready for harvest in the histoic orchards of Fruita within Capitol Reef National Park.
Photo: Stephanie Jolly
Driving through the dry, dusty landscape of south-central Utah, one of the last things one expects to see tucked into the shadow of one of the region's sandstone canyon walls is a lush, fruit-bearing orchard. And yet that's exactly the kind of unexpected surprise that greets travelers along Highway 24 as they enter Capital Reef National Park, outside Torrey, Utah.
While the park is best known for the 100-mile Waterpocket Fold, a exposed 50 million year old wrinkle in the earth's crust, Capitol Reef also encompases the pioneer town of Fruita, a small community of Mormon explorers that settled along the banks of the small, yet flowing, Fremont River when they found the way westward impassable. When the last resident left the area in 1959, the town was merged with the already established Capitol Reef National Park, and the nearly 2,700 fruit trees now serve as a reminder of the historic pioneer community that once eeked out an existence in this otherwise barren environment.
Today the Fruita orchards are maintained by the National Park Service and each year during harvest the gates are unlocked and visitors are encouraged to walk among the fruit-laden branches picking and consuming as much ripe fruit as they desire. It's a foragers paradise, and even though the trees aren't part of the native desert ecology, the combination of a u-pick fruit harvest within a national park, alongside more traditional park recreational activities like camping and hiking through geologic monuments, makes for a rare culinary opportunity.
Among the offerings at Fruita are cherries, apricots, peaches, pears, and apples, with a few plum, mulberry, almond, and walnut trees scattered around the grounds as well. Cherries, both sweet Bings and tart Montmorency pie cherries, are the first to ripen in mid-June followed by several varieties of apricots throughout June and July. In late summer, peaches and pears hang from the branches while over seven varieties of apples conclude the harvest in October. Maps of the historic family orchard plots are available at the Capitol Reef Visitor Center. In peak season, scales, plastic bags and a self-pay station are located within open orchards for those who wish to harvest fruit in bulk to take off premise. All fruit consumed while in the orchard is free, and visitors are not required to pick the fruit in quanitity.
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