Gifford House — Capitol Reef

The farmhouse sitting at the center of this stop has been here since 1908, built inside what is now Capitol Reef National Park in the Fruita valley — a patch of irrigated green wedged against the cliffs of the Waterpocket Fold. The Gifford family farmed the land from 1928 until 1969, when they sold the property to the National Park Service and became the last residents to leave Fruita. The Capitol Reef Natural History Association, working with the NPS, has since restored and refurnished the house as a cultural site interpreting the early Mormon settlement of the valley, and the barn, smokehouse, pasture, and rock walls of the original homestead are still standing around it.

The store inside sells freshly baked fruit pies, jams, ice cream, and cinnamon rolls, and the orchard trees that line the property still produce the fruit that goes into them — apple, peach, cherry, pear, plum, apricot, and almond varieties, including historic and heirloom types. If you arrive during harvest season, you can eat fruit in the orchards at no charge, or pay a nominal fee to take some with you. Pies do sell out on busy days, so earlier in the afternoon is a safer bet than later. Picnic tables and drinking water are available on-site, which makes it easy to park the bike, walk the grounds, and take a proper break before heading back out on the Scenic Drive. The house is open seasonally, from mid-March through late November.