The story
In May 1997 a slab of vertical cliff about 100 feet high and 250 feet long fell onto Highway 24 about five miles east of the Visitor Center and closed the park's main road. Travelers faced detours of three to four hours until state crews blasted the rubble clear.
On May twelfth of nineteen ninety-seven, a cliff section about one hundred feet high and two hundred fifty long fell across this highway near here. One of the first drivers forced onto the hundred-twenty-mile dirt detour was Capitol Reef's chief ranger, who ended up on the wrong side. State crews blasted it clear. This road is what they dug out.
Photo: NPS / Chris Roundtree · Public domain (U.S. Government work)