Capitol Reef National Park has a wide variety of difficulty in it hikes. We tend to stick to pretty easy hikes because we are doing them with a baby and Meagan isn’t a big fan of elevation gain. The Hickman Bridge hike is rated as a moderate hike and it was the hardest hiking we did while were there.
Getting to the Hickman Bridge Trail
Getting to the Hickman Bridge trailhead is easy. Continue on Highway 24 past the visitor center, you will also pass the old school house and the petroglyph pullout. Just before the road and canyon bend to the right there is a parking area and restrooms. There are two trails that leave from this trailhead, the Hickman Bridge and the Navajo Knobs trails. When you get to the split in the trail stay to the left, if you go right you will be in for a 4.7 mile hike rather than a .9 mile hike.
What You Will See on the Hickman Bridge Trail
The trail meanders up and down through about 400 feet of elevation change. You will go past some black rocks on your ascent and then go down a steeper descent through the common sandstone. Coming back up again to find the bridge.
When you get near the bridge the trail will split to make a loop under the bridge. It is a one way loop for safety so make sure that you follow the sign and go right to get under the bridge itself. You will then loop around the back of the bridge to return on the same trail that you came in on.
There is very little cover along the trail, just a few trees spread far apart and sparsely scattered. For this reason we recommend hiking here in the morning or evening, rather than the middle of the day like we did.
The bridge itself is quite impressive and on the scale of similar items in Arches National Park and Natural Bridges National Monument.
Sum Up
The Hickman Bridge trail has one of the most impressive destinations of hikes in Capitol Reef. It is listed as moderately difficult and it certainly is. We were able to do it with a baby in a hiking carrier, and we did see some young children do it, but with difficulty at the end.
There is a fair amount of parking at the trailhead and there are pit toilets there.
