Hole-in-the-Rock-Trail
The Hole- in-the- Rock Trail is a 320 kilometer long historical overland connection in southern Utah.
History
In particular, invaded since the mid-19th century settlers who mostly members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter -day Saints were out of the center Utah in the edge area of the settlement area of the Navajo and Ute in today's San Juan County in the southeast of this present state before. The church leaders decided in 1878, the establishment of permanent settlements in the border area of the Four Corners, as a settlement area of the valley of Montezuma Creek, a northern tributary of the San Juan River was chosen. There were different routes explored in order to gain access to this area, including along the Old Spanish Trail and south of the Grand Canyon. The expedition leaders decided to end but for the shortest, most, however, largely unknown path along the high plateau above the Escalante River, the crossing of the Colorado River and along the canyons and mesas on the east bank of the river in the direction of the current city bluff.
In the autumn of 1879, the approximately 230 members of the expedition gathered under the leadership of Silas S. Smith and D. Lyman plate to a source at the beginning of the Fortymile Gulch on the plateau between the canyon of the Escalante River and the Kaiparowits Plateau with their cars and their cattle. A scouting party was sent out to find a route through the Glen Canyon and the Colorado River. Near the Cottonwood Canyon discovered this a promising path on the opposite bank of the river, on the west bank offered a narrow gap the opportunity to reach the banks of the river. This rock column - designated by the expedition members as Hole in the Rock, the trail is named. The work of several months was necessary to make this way for the cattle and the wagon of the settlers practicable, in the lower part originated wooden rails, which made it possible to move the wagon over a trench filled with loose rock away. Different anchor points have been created to bring the wagon by means of cables in the valley. On January 26, 1880, the descent began, all the settlers and their possessions reached the shore, where one built by Charles Hall wooden ferry for the crossing stood ready. A participant of the expedition, Kumen Jones, later wrote:
"After about six weeks work and waiting for powder, etc., what a start made to move the wagons down the hole. I had a well broken team and hitched it on to B. Perkins wagon and drove it down through the hole. Long ropes were Provided and about 20 men and boys held on to the wagons to make sure thatthere would be no accidents, through [ brakes ] giving way, or horses cutting up after Their long lay off, but all went smooth and safe, and by the 28th, most of the wagons were across the river and work had commenced again on the Cottonwood Canyon another very rough proposition. ( After about six weeks of work and waiting for explosives and the like of the start was made with the transport of the car through the gap. I had a pretty ragged troop and harness them to the chariot of B. Perkins, we down through the opening. managed long ropes were used and 20 men and boys secured the car, to ensure that there were no accidents due to brake failure or by the long break weaned, converging horses, but everything went smoothly and safely and were on the 28th almost all cars started across the river and work on the Cottonwood Canyon, a new difficult undertaking. ). "
The explored by scouts as an exit from the Glen Canyon route turned out to be unusable, instead forced the cliffs and canyons of Cedar Mesa participants, bypassing the Grand Gulch to a far north as planned running route. At the Salvation Knoll near present-day Natural Bridges National Monument them finally reached the summit of the plateau, which invalidated expedition attracted back even further to the east and through the valley of the Comb Wash to the San Juan River, where they, around 30 kilometers from their original target near the mouth of Cottonwood Wash in April 1880, the settlement founded Bluff. The originally designed for six weeks expedition took almost 6 months to complete, none of the settlers died, two children were born.
The first shift the route of the trail was already after about a year when Charles Hall 's Ferry upriver relocated to Halls Crossing at the end of today's Burr Trail and the Notom - Bullfrog Road, because from here, easy access to the center and northern Utah was possible. The eastern part of the trail was then quickly forgotten, the west part of the Colorado location served local ranchers and prospectors as access to hard to reach areas of present-day Southern Utah and the Arizona Strip. It was only after the establishment of the Glen Canyon Dam reinforced onset tourism increased interest in the Hole- in-the- Rock Trail back in 1982 he was finally added to the National Register of Historic Places.
Hole- in-the- Rock Road
The western under National Park Service some 99 Kilometers section of the trail today is the Hole- in-the- Rock Road, which have access to the Canyons of the Escalante said middle part of the Grand Staircase- Escalante National Monument and the remote western part of the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area offers. The dirt track can - dry weather condition - be driven at least until the dancehall rock with normal vehicles, after prolonged rainfall is discouraged strongly from one use of the track due to the muddy sections.
From the Hole- in-the- Rock Road, which is run as a BLM Road 200, go from numerous side routes, of which the most important are listed in the following table:
Besides this, directly emanating from the road trails access to various attractions, such as the slot canyons on the upper Harris Wash ( Zebra Slot, Slot tunnel ) and the dancehall rock.