Grand Staircase (Off) Road Trip - Escalante Day 3

Hole-in-the-Rock Road

Wednesday, October 20, 2021

We woke up to another beautiful day with a clear blue sky.  Today we are driving the Hole-in-the-Rock Road all the way to the end where you can look down through a cleft in the canyon wall and see Lake Powell.  When we were here in 1997 we had started out to do that, but were told it was very rough and difficult and we shouldn’t attempt it in a stock SUV.  Even though we couldn’t make it then we have always wanted to return to do that and today was that day.  The last seven miles are still very rough and require 4-wheel drive, but some improvements have been made to make it more accessible.

Hole-in-the-Rock Road in red.

Here is a very brief history of how the Hole-in-the-Rock Road came to be.  In 1879, the Mormon Church asked for volunteers from the already settled areas of Southwestern Utah to form an expedition to settle an area on the San Juan River in Southeastern Utah (the present day town of Bluff).  The San Juan Expedition (it has come to be called the Hole-in-the-Rock Expedition) formed up in the small outpost of Escalante to begin their trek.

The expedition was made up of 250 people (more than half of them children), 83 wagons, 1000 head of cattle, horses and oxen to pull the wagons, and everything needed to start a brand new settlement.  The area southeast of Escalante was rugged, arid, inhospitable high desert and the expedition would have to make a new road to make their way across it as no roads existed at the time, and then somehow make it down from this high plateau to the Colorado River in Glen Canyon below.   

What was expected to be a six week journey turned into six month journey, remarkably no lives were lost and all of the wagons made it. I found the history of the Hole-in-the-Rock Road to be fascinating and a very interesting look at the fortitude and courage of the early settlers of the west. 

I have barely touched the surface of the journey this expedition made so if you are interested in learning more, follow this link.  For a more extensive history of the San Juan Expedition, I am currently reading "Hole-in-the-Rock: An Epic in the Colonization of the Great American West" by David E. Miller and I would highly recommend it.

From its start at SB12 to its end, the road is 55 miles long (here is a link to a driving guide).  The first 36 miles is mostly straight, washboard dirt road through the high desert that is drivable by most any car although high clearance is probably best after the first 20 miles.  At the 36 mile point the road starts to get more interesting, but also rougher and winds down in and out of washes (some very deep) and around various rock formations.  The last 7 miles get very rough with some pretty steep climbs in and out of the numerous washes.  It is highly recommended this section only be done by high clearance, 4-wheel drive vehicles.

Enough said about the road, how about our drive on it.  We were slow getting ready today and didn’t hit the road until 10:00, but the turnoff to Hole-in-the-Rock Road is just a few miles north of town so we didn’t have far to go.  As I said earlier, the first part of the road is dirt with a lot of washboard and not very interesting, but at mile 12 there is a turnoff and short drive to Devil’s Garden, which is very interesting.  From the Visit Utah website, here is a short description of Devil’s Garden – “The Devil’s Garden Outstanding Natural Area is a miniature wonderland of Navajo Sandstone hoodoos, domes, narrow passages, and small arches, hidden from the view of drivers along Hole-in-the-Rock Road”.  We spent close to an hour hiking around the area and, as you can see below, taking lots of pictures.

 

 

 

Back on Hole-in-the-Rock Road there are many side roads that lead to trail heads with some leading to slot canyons.  You can do anything from day hikes to multi-day backpacking trips.  On our previous trip here, I did one hike into slot canyon that was quite interesting, but no hiking today, we are headed for the end. 

At mile 36 we stopped at Dance Hall Rock to have lunch.  Dance Hall Rock is near 40 mile spring where the expedition gathered and prepared for the road building at Hole-in-the-Rock and next leg of the journey. Dance Hall Rock is a natural amphitheater where the Mormon wagon train had meetings, church services and dances.

The weather was beautiful with the temperature around 60 degrees, which felt just perfect as we sat in the sun and ate our lunch.  Soon though, it was time to start the final leg of our journey and we were a little nervous as we really didn’t know what to expect and how difficult the road was to drive.

Dance Hall Rock

Time for lunch

 

From Dance Hall Rock the road got steadily worse with many washes to cross and very rough going.  The scenery though, improved greatly and it was a very beautiful (and exciting) drive.  It was very slow going, but we finally neared the end.

Surprisingly, the final half mile or so was actually pretty easy going.  For most of the way, there wasn’t a clue to show us where we were headed, but as we got closer to the end, an opening in the canyon wall appeared and we wondered whether that was it. Was that the hole-in-the-wall?  It was indeed and the end came up so suddenly it was almost a surprise to see that we were actually there.

We made it, you can see the "hole" in the rock ahead.

We parked the car and after hiking over the rocks for a short distance, there it was, and we were looking down at Lake Powell through a cleft in the rock.  When you look down at the steep descent through the narrow gap it is hard to believe that men using only limited amounts of blasting powder and their hand tools and muscle, built a road that took 250 people, 83 wagons, belongings and animals from this high plateau down 1800 feet to Colorado River below (Lake Powell didn’t exist until the Glen Canyon Dam was completed in 1966).  The driving distance down was about three quarters of a mile so you can see it was quite steep.  It was truly awe inspiring to think about.  Here is a Wikipedia link for a little more background information.

There is Lake Powell below.

This the narrow cleft where the San Juan Expedition built their road down to the Colorado River.  A remarkable feat and remarkable bravery to drive wagons down such a road.

 

 

An old picture looking from the Lake Powell side of Hole-in-the-Rock copied from the book "Hole-in-the-Rock: An Epic in the Colonization of the Great".  The dotted line running down the canyon wall represents the road the settlers built and brought their wagons down.  It extends down into Lake Powell to where the Colorado River was in 1879.  At the top of the canyon in the middle is where Val and I stood taking our pictures looking out at Lake Powell.

This is a picture I took of an illustration at the Visitor's Center depicting how the expedition had to bring their wagons down to the Colorado River.  The illustration was outside and there were shadows from a tree on it so it isn't a very good picture, but it gives you some idea of what it was like.

This is an illustration of the last wagon down.  The story goes that the parents didn't want to subject their children to the danger so they told them to sit on that rock and don't move and they would hike back up and get them when they got the wagon down.  Very hardy folk in those days, both adults and children.

One thing I have to note here, Val has done all the driving on Hole-in-the-Rock Road and done a great job.  I have a GoPro mounted to the top of the 4-Runner and we have been shooting videos of our journey.  While she drives, I control the camera and see what it’s shooting with an IPAD.  It was a long and difficult job and she did a great job and her reward for making it was to turn around and drive the whole way back.  I offered to drive back, but she declined and said she had come this far and was going to finish it.

We drove back to the main highway without stopping, but it still took a couple of hours and we didn’t get back until after 6:00.  It had been a long and tiring day, but a great day.  We had fulfilled our long term desire to finally drive the entire Hole-in-the-Rock Road and we had a great time doing it.  The actual hole in the rock was much more impressive than expected, which made the day even better.

We don’t exactly know what we are going to do tomorrow, tonight we plan on getting a very good night’s sleep.