Capitol Reef National Park, Utah. Soaring cliffs of Wingate Sandstone provide a backdrop for a silhouetted hiker in Capitol Reef National Park, Utah. Created as a national monument in 1937, it was upgraded to its present status as national park in 1972 when President Nixon signed a bill first proposed under President Johnson in1967. The park contains narrow slot canyons and most of the 80-mile long anticline known as the Waterpocket Fold. The 11,000-foot high Aquarius plateau to the west provides an ample supply of water for streams as they continue to cut down through the various layers of sandstone.