Capitol Reef National Park Service

U.S. Department of the Interior

Capitol Reef National Park

Junior Ranger 

Activity Book

Name: Age: 
The National Park Service preserves natural and cultural resources in over 400 units for 

this and future generations. Junior Rangers support this mission by exploring, learning 

about, and helping to protect these areas.

Watch, Learn, and Share

Park rangers present programs to teach visitors about the park. 

Attend a ranger-led program at Capitol Reef National Park. If you are 

unable to attend a program, watch the park film at the visitor center.

How to Become a Junior Ranger:

Complete the required activity: Watch, Learn, and Share.

Complete additional activities 

based on your age. 

Ages 3–5 Choose 4 activities.

Ages 6–8 Choose 6 activities.

Ages 9–11 Choose 8 activities.

Ages 12–14 Choose 10 activities.

Ages 15+ Complete all 12 activities.

Bring your completed booklet to a park 

employee for review to earn your badge!

Write two things you learned about Capitol Reef National Park from the film or program.

1. 

2. 

 

REQUIRED

ACTIVITY

Copyright 2017, National Park Service

Written and designed by Emily Van Ness

Illustrated by Caitlin Campbell

caitlincampbellart.squarespace.com

What is a Junior Ranger?

Film title: 

Program title: 

Presenter’s name: 
See a ranger

Five Senses BINGO

Animals use their senses to help them survive. An eagle can see a 

rabbit from a mile away. A mother bat can find her baby by smell. 

Crickets have tiny hairs that help them feel approaching predators. 

Foxes can hear prey moving underground. Taste helps animals 

avoid poisonous foods. Use your senses to experience the park.

ACTIVITY

1

Feel a black boulder Taste ripened fruit 

from an orchard See animal scat Hear the river

Hear footsteps Smell a flower Feel something smooth 

Draw it!

Smell the fresh air Feel something rough 

Draw it! Hear a bird See a tree

Hear something noisy

Draw it! See a deer Feel tree bark Smell the earth

Directions: Cross out the activities you do below. Try to get four in a row, bingo!

Forming the Landscape

Capitol Reef National Park was created to preserve the Waterpocket 

Fold, a giant fold or wrinkle in the Earth’s crust. This feature was 

formed by three major geologic processes that changed the landscape.

Directions: Number the three processes below in order from first to last as they occurred 

through time.

ACTIVITY

2

Uplift

Erosion Deposition

At Capitol Reef, what kind of fold was formed by uplift? Hint: See activity 6.

a. syncline

b. anticline

c. monocline
ACTIVITY

3 Night Sky

Enjoy the park after dark! Capitol Reef is an International Dark Sky 

Park and an excellent place to stargaze. People through time have 

wondered at the night sky and created constellation stories to help 

them understand and identify objects in space. Look up at the night 

sky. What do you see?

Directions: Complete the dot-to-dots to reveal four constellations.

1

2

5 4,8 3

6 7

5

4

3

2

1

1 2

3

4,18

5

6

7 8,10

9

11

12

13,16

14

17

1

3,5

4

15 6

2

Partners in Nature ACTIVITY

Many plants and animals rely on one another to thrive. When two 

living things benefit from each other it is called mutualism. 4

Directions: Match the animal and plant partners by drawing a line 

between the members of each pair.

Northern flickers peck holes in 

trees and eat the insects inside.

Yucca moths fly from flower to flower 

transferring pollen. This helps create 

seeds which can feed their larvae.

Cottonwood trees need protection 

from insects that eat their bark.

Pinyon pines need their seeds 

spread to grow new trees.

Yuccas need pollen from other flowers 

to make seeds and grow new plants.

Pinyon jays eat seeds and store some 

underground to save for later.

A cluster of stars within a constellation is called an asterism. The Big Dipper is an 

asterism; it is a part of the constellation known as the Great Bear. 

BONUS: Find and circle the Big Dipper in the picture above.
P B V S R G O R G E H G S

V E U E I P G X Y O X D W

G H A B I T A T S T N U E

W M C Y R Z M S H A V S S

O T S F J I A M L E A K T

O Y R K X J P S W A T E R

D T X L N F S A F U O B E

L S Z C Z A C W R G F U S

A A T D R E T T P I S M E

N U Z G S O D L F E A H D

D U M O N O C L I N E N R

S T V C S T E K C O P I K

U O Z W F B Q E J J F O J

Mormon Pioneers ACTIVITY

5 Mormon pioneer families began to settle here in the 1880’s. For 

nearly 80 years they lived without electricity or plumbing. They 

sewed their own clothing, grew fruits and vegetables, and raised 

farm animals. The pioneers didn’t have many of the items that 

people use today. What did they use instead?

Extending for over 90 miles, the Waterpocket Fold is North America’s longest exposed 

monocline, a one-sided fold. “Waterpocket” refers to the large bowl-shaped pockets

of water in the rock, like the Tanks on the Capitol Gorge trail. The fold contains many 

different rock layers, which provide a variety of habitats for plants and animals. Capitol 

Reef’s grasslands, woodlands, deserts, and riparian zones are home to over 1,000 species 

of plants and animals.

Waterpocket Word Search ACTIVITY

6

Directions: Find and circle the ten underlined words in the word search.

Directions: Draw lines from items of the past to items of the present that serve the same 

purpose. Find at least five matches.
Leave No Trace

The Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics is an organization 

that protects the environment by teaching people to enjoy it 

responsibly. Everything in a national park is protected, including the 

plants, animals, rocks, and rivers. Are the visitors pictured below 

following park rules and Leave No Trace principles?

ACTIVITY

7

1. Plan Ahead and 

Prepare

2. Travel and Camp on 

Durable Surfaces

3. Dispose of Waste 

Properly

4. Leave What You Find

5. Minimize Campfire 

Impacts

6. Respect Wildlife

7. Be Considerate of 

Other Visitors

Directions: Circle seven appropriate behaviors and 

draw an X through seven inappropriate behaviors.

© 1999 by the Leave No Trace Center 

for Outdoor Ethics: www.LNT.org

Leave No Trace Seven 

Principles
Stories in Stone ACTIVITY

8 Capitol Reef’s rock layers were deposited from 275 to 74 million 

years ago and serve as an excellent record of the Mesozoic era. 

Studying rock layers helps us understand what the Earth was like 

long ago. Sandstones, mudstones, and limestones tell different 

stories of past weather conditions and environments. Fossils help us 

learn about the plants and animals that existed.

Directions: Find the Castle outside the visitor center. Use clues in the rock layers pictured 

below to determine what the environment was like when these layers formed. Draw a 

line between each rock layer and its ancient environment.

There are three main types of rocks 

on Earth. The layers of the Castle 

are sedimentary, made of tiny 

sediments deposited by erosion 

and cemented over time. Siltstones 

and mudstones typically form soft 

sloping layers that are easily eroded. 

Sandstones tend to form towering 

cliffs because they are harder and 

more resistant to weathering.

Rocks that have been altered by 

extreme heat and pressure are 

metamorphic. This type of rock 

cannot be seen in the park, but it 

exists deep underground.

The third rock type is formed by 

molten rock, like the black boulders 

in the park. What type of rock are 

they? Unscramble the bolded letters 

in the four rock layer names to fill in 

the blanks and find out.

WINGATE SANDSTONE

KAIBAB LIMESTONE

CHINLE FORMATION

MOENKOPI FORMATION

I U

Ancient Environments Rock Types
Ancient Cultures ACTIVITY

9

Many Fremont artifacts have been found in the park. Artifacts help archaeologists 

understand past cultures.

4. What is the best thing to do if you find an artifact in the park?

a. Bring it home to keep it safe.

b. Leave it alone.

c. Bring it to a ranger.

d. Take a picture of it and tell a ranger where it is.

Why? 

 

clay figurine

moccasins

From 300 to 1300 C.E., the Fremont River Valley was home to a 

group of Native Americans that archaeologists referred to as the 

Fremont Culture. Modern Native American tribes have other names 

for their ancestors; the Pauite know them as Wee Noonts (People 

Who Lived the Old Ways) and the Hopi call them Hisatsinom

(People of Long Ago).

They hunted bighorn sheep and mule deer, gathered seeds and nuts, and planted corn, 

beans, and squash. They also painted pictographs and carved petroglyphs into the 

canyon walls.

2. What do you think the images mean?

 

Directions: Visit the Petroglyph Panel, located 1 mile (1.6 km) east of the visitor center 

on Highway 24. 

arrowhead

3. Why is it important to protect the rock markings?

 

1. Use the space below to draw one of the images you see at the Petroglyph Panel. 

(Remember to draw on your paper and not on rocks, trees, or other parts of nature.)
Wilderness Preservation ACTIVITY

11

Fruita Orchards ACTIVITY

10 Tucked in among the cliffs, Fruita occupies a unique area. Fertile 

soils, deposited by waterways, have created an oasis for farming in 

the middle of a desert.

Changes to the climate may increase the frequency of extreme temperatures, droughts, 

and flooding. How could the changing climate affect the orchards in the future?

 

Directions: Orchards require labor throughout the seasons, including winter. Finish 

labelling the chores from one to five in order as they are completed throughout the year.

Mormon pioneers grew orchards in Fruita and sold and traded fruit to make a living. This 

rewarding work was often difficult due to natural flooding, drought, and a necessity for 

year-round effort. The pioneers’ perseverance allowed them to inhabit this special place 

and provide neighboring towns with nutritious and delicious foods.

Directions: Get a free map from the visitor center. Use it to fill in the blanks.

2. Label the missing blanks on the legend.

 

 

 

 

1

Can and preserve fruit.

Prune: remove dead branches 

(begins in winter).

Dig and clear irrigation ditches 

to allow the flow of water.

Harvest: gather ripe fruit.

Irrigate: water the trees.

3. The “River ford” is located on the 

 Road.

4. How many primitive campgrounds are 

in the park? 

5. What kind of vehicle is needed to get to 

the Strike Valley Overlook? 

 

6. Why are wilderness areas important? 

List three reasons. 

 

The Waterpocket Fold territory was the last to be mapped in the 

contiguous 48 states. Many areas of the park remain rugged and 

remote. Almost 75% of the park is managed as Wilderness, an area 

where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, 

where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.

1. Label the four federal 

public lands that border 

Capitol Reef to the west.

1

4

2

3
National Park Science ACTIVITY

12

This drawing is half the size of the actual 

track. The real track has a length of 8.8 cm 

(3.5 in) and a width of 9 cm (3.6 in).

What animal do you think made it? What 

clues helped you decide?

 

3. Go outside and find a place to observe the environment. Record your data on the 

next page.

Find an animal track, a leaf, or another item from nature. 

- Measure it with the provided ruler.

- Record the length and width in inches and centimeters.

- Draw it in the space allotted. 

- Leave it where you found it.

Month Day Year 

Cloud cover (circle one): sunny partly cloudy cloudy

Weather (check all that apply):

 rain snow hail fog thunder damaging winds

Current temperature °F °C Time of day: 

(Estimate if you do not have a thermometer.)

Find a place to sit outside. Close your eyes and listen for three minutes. 

Use a timer if you have one.

List all of the sounds you heard. 

 

How could these sounds affect animals in the park? 

 

Length: in

cm 

Width: in

cm

2. Drawing is a useful way to record observations. When a sketch is not drawn to scale 

it is important to record the actual dimensions of the object. 

Scientists and rangers record 

data and detailed observations to 

help them study and understand the 

environment. Drawings, measurements, 

and descriptions are different forms of data.

1. While most Americans measure temperature in Fahrenheit, scientists typically use 

Celsius. Celsius is based on the freezing and boiling points of water. Water freezes at 

0°C (32°F) and boils at 100°C (212°F ). January is the coldest month at Capitol Reef, 

with average high and low temperatures of 41°F and 20°F. What are they in Celsius? 

Directions: Convert 41°F and 20°F to Celsius. To convert Fahrenheit to Celsius, 

subtract 32, then multiply by 5, and divide by 9.

High: °C Low: °C
is a Junior Ranger at 

Capitol Reef National Park

Park representative’s signature Cancellation stamp

Junior Ranger Certif ci ate