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.

Grand Staircase (Off) Road Trip - Escalante Day 2

The Burr Trail and Wolverine Loop  

Tuesday, October 19, 2021

After going to bed with heavy clouds and rain showers outside, we woke up to a beautiful day with clear blue skies, a good omen for the day ahead.  We were up early (for us) as we had a long day ahead of us.  After breakfast, we packed our lunch and were on the road before 9:30.  Today we are driving the Burr Trail that starts in the town of Boulder.

The Burr Trail is marked in red while the Wolverine Loop is blue.

Boulder is about 30 miles north of Escalante and the drive from Escalante to Boulder on SB12 is spectacular.  You go down into canyons and up into high plateaus with incredible scenery all along the way.  You even go through a stretch where you are on the backbone with deep canyons on both sides.

We arrived in Boulder, made the right hand turn onto the Burr Trail and we were on our way.  The Burr Trail is named after John Burr, an early rancher in the area in the mid 1800's who needed a way to get his cattle from the high country down to a lower altitude for the winter.  It’s hard to believe how he found a way through this desolate and rugged landscape, but he did and now we have a beautiful scenic drive to enjoy.

The Burr Trail is 66 miles long and is paved for the first 31 miles until you reach the boundary of Capitol Reef National Park.  The main part of Capitol Reef is further north, but the Burr Trail cuts through the southern and lesser traveled part of it.

The first part of the drive was lined with cottonwood trees with their beautiful fall colors.  After driving through one short canyon we drove through Long Canyon that is one of the highlights of the Burr Trail.  It is about 10 miles long with towering red cliffs on both sides with cottonwood trees at the base of the cliffs.

Fall colors in the Cottonwoods.

Long Canyon

Driving into Long Canyon.

I had read in a photo guide about a slot canyon with easy access along the road.  It is not named and not marked on most maps, but is pretty well known and is called Singing Canyon by the locals because of the acoustics inside the canyon (I have also seen it called Long Canyon Slot on some topo maps).  There are no signs on the road, but we knew about where it was so we started our search.  We stopped at spot we thought it was, but after hiking around a bit we couldn’t find it.  

I had the book that I read about it in and checked again and saw he had mentioned it was 0.8 miles past a bridge over The Gulch.  Val and I just looked at each other and laughed, we had parked at the bridge he was talking about.  We got in the car, drove the 0.8 miles and sure enough; there to the left was what looked like a slot canyon.  The entrance was hidden by a large cottonwood tree, but it was a short walk down to it and there it was.  It was not very long and not as narrow as some of the slot canyons, but it was very beautiful and sure enough, the acoustics were wonderful, though neither Val nor I wanted to expose the world our singing.  We were the only people there for a while, but a couple of people noticed where we parked and soon there were a few other people so we thought that was our sign to move on.

It was a short hike to get to Singing Canyon.

 

 

We continued through Long Canyon and drove up out of the canyon to a large plateau.  Just as we exited the canyon we saw the turnoff for the Wolverine Loop, a 28 mile dirt track that ended back up at the Burr Trail.  I had read about it and thought it might be interesting to drive so we decided to at least start it and see what it was like.  It was a rough road and went through many creek crossings, but could probably be done by a 2-wheel drive, high clearance vehicle, but I definitely felt more comfortable having 4-wheel drive.   

We were traveling through a high dessert plateau area that, while beautiful, was not really very interesting and after about 8 miles we were considering turning around, but decided to press on and have some lunch before deciding.  We found a beautiful spot to have our lunch and decided to continue the loop.

This seemed like a nice place to stop for lunch.

Wise decision, just after lunch we started passing through a deep canyon and then rising onto plateaus and going right back down into another canyon.  The road was pretty rough in places and slow going, but it was a great drive and we were glad we pushed ahead.

We got back to the Burr Trail and continued on into Capitol Reef National Park where the road turned to dirt and got a little rougher, but not bad.  The Burr Trail goes all the way to a road called the Norton Bullfrog Road that runs north to the main highway leading to Capitol Reef and south to the Bullfrog Marina on Lake Powell.  The road that runs to Bullfrog is considered part of the Burr Trail.  We had driven to Capitol Reef on our last trip, but we decided it was getting late in the afternoon so we would just drive to the Muley Twist, turn around and head back.

The Muley Twist is a very steep series of switchbacks that drop 1000 feet into the valley below.  It is a bit of a harrowing drive, but very interesting.  When we were here last time, I had found a spot where I could take a picture of the switchbacks and the route down, but I couldn’t find the spot this time.  I think it must have been after we had already started down, but oh well, we were ready to start back.

The top of the Muley Twist.

Looking down the Muley Twist.  You can't see much of the switchbacks from this viewpoint, but you can see the bottom of the Muley Twist far below.

We made the drive back along the Burr Trail to Boulder and then SB12 back to Escalante and our tiny house.  We made it back by 5:00 and it felt good to sit down and relax for a bit, but we had dinner to think about.

There is a fire pit out back of our house and we had decided that we would relive our childhood and roast hot dogs on sticks over an open fire and tonight was the night.  I went out to start the fire while Val got things ready, but I didn’t do very well so Val came out and rescued me and took over the fire starting and soon we had a roaring fire going which felt good as the evening was getting pretty cool.  We roasted our hot dogs (actually Polish sausages) to perfection and had a great dinner of our hot dogs and potato salad.

Val has jut gotten a good fire going and is ready to roast the hotdogs.

It was a bit cool, but not as cold as I look in this picture.

These hot dogs tasted great after being roasted over an open fire.

It had been a long day and we have another long day tomorrow so after getting thing cleaned up and relaxing for a while, we called it a night.  Tomorrow we are driving the Hole-in-the-Rock Road, another off-road adventure.