The Hole in the Rock Trail

Hole in the Rock Trail

March 21 - 23, 2009

By Jerry Smith

The "Hole In the Rock" road is a famous and historic trail in southern Utah on the south and east side of Lake Powell. The Hole In the Rock trail is about 30 miles in and the same back out for 60-miles of fantastic 4-wheeling (if you are into very rough and tough going).

Happy Trails showing some flex on the Hole In the Rock trail.

The Hole In the Rock trail is rated as a 6 (vehicle modifications and top driving skills needed) by the Red Rock 4- Wheelers of Moab. 

Most of the Hole In the Rock trail is on sandstone... either in the firm sandstone "slick-rock" form or its cousin,  very fine windblown sand.

The Hole In the Rock trail is extremely remote with zero facilities of any kind.  The closest help is the Cal Black Memorial Airport which is just up the hill from the little town and marina of Hite, UT.  Hite is near the upper most end of Lake Powell and is closed for the winter months.

Bring plenty of gasoline or expect to pay dearly for it at the airport (if you can catch them open for business).

Most of the Hole In the Rock road is so rough progress is made at a fast walking pace. You get so much "head-shake", you just won't want to proceed at a faster pace.

Happy Trails on "The Ledge"

Every few feet of the Hole In the Rock trail there is an obstacle of one kind or another. 

Some of the Hole In the Rock dug-ways are terribly rough.  Where the Mormon pioneers and later the miners blasted into the rock and then back-filled with sand to make them passable, the sand has blown out of the blasted areas and there is no way to describe how rough these frequent areas can be. 

Your vehicle will definitely get a workout absorbing the constant bumps and dips.  There are many “falls”, “steps”, and “off-camber” obstacles.  Names like “the Chute” and the “Wall” have been given to some particularly notable ones.

A minimum of two days is recommended for doing the trail, one day in and one day to get back out. Start early if you want to hike down the last 2 miles of the trail to Lake Powell.

 If you wish to do much hiking and exploring on Hole In the Rock, three days would be better. Do not attempt to do this trail alone.  A 30 mile walk along the Hole In the Rock for help through this rugged desert terrain could ruin your whole day, not to mention the possibility of your life. 

Of course you will want things like WATER, camping equipment, WATER, food, and a little more water.  We experienced March temperatures between about 29 and 50 degrees on Hole In the Rock, so a good warm sleeping bag comes in mighty handy as well. 

This is Mike in "The Chute"

 Our simple meals, primarily a can of soup and sand--- (no “wich”) were heated under the hood prior to setting the “table”.  Sand, dust and wind were ever present this whole trip.  No doubt our equipment will have sand forever.  I'm sure my eyes and ears will.

Having met in Moab, four Grand Mesa Jeep Club members had their sights set on the Hole In the Rock trail.  This would be my first look at  Hole In the Rock. 

 The Hole In the Rock trail has a serious reputation of being only for the most serious Jeeper.  You'll need plenty of stamina just to complete it.

Leaving Moab, we hit the road for the Cal Black Memorial Airport for a last fuel fill-up before looking for a campsite and a short drive toward the Hole In the Rock road.

Signs are few and kinda crude.

The Hole In the Rock road had been reported washed out in Lake Canyon so we left to look it over.  The report was correct.

Approximately 75 yards of the road surface had dropped into the deep canyon and left a deep “V”-wedge in the remaining east end of the Hole In the Rock road that makes the risk/reward equation too questionable to try going around.  A mishap here would leave you at the bottom of a deep, sandy cliff.

 We scouted for a by-pass as this way would save about 10-miles of bad road off the trip.  It was a nice hike, but that’s all.  Back to camp for the night.

Mike climbing a "dug-way"

Sunday morning saw 4-Jeeps heading out for the new beginning of the Hole In the Rock Road. 

We found that the Moab Red Rock 4-Wheelers had clearly marked a way from the end of the existing road down a mostly slick-rock trail to where the old Hole In the Rock road with the washout intersected.  This part of the trail was worth the drive from Grand Junction alone. 

Some great views of Lake Powell of in the distance are a welcoming site.  The blue water contrasts with the red slick-rock to make for a great picture... except for all the dust in the air.

At this intersection, Dave and Harley left to do their own 4-wheeling and Mike and Jerry set out for the Hole In the Rock Crossing of what then was the Colorado River. 

Running the Hole In the Rock road from this end is actually going in reverse of what the Mormons, who pioneered the road during the winter of 1879- 80, did it.

As winter approached at the end of November 1879, 250 men, women, and children, with 80 wagons and 1,000 head of cattle, found themselves up against terribly broken, seemingly impassable terrain. 

The settlers had been en route on the Hole In the Rock trail for more than two weeks when they reached the 1,200-foot-deep Colorado River gorge, sixty-five miles southeast of Escalante.  (Happy Trails and I would have turned around)

For six weeks, the men labored on a wagon road down the sandstone cliffs to the Colorado River. Built by chiseling and blasting a path through a steep crevice, later named the "Hole-in-the-Rock", their road stands today as a testament of pioneer ingenuity and sheer determination.

A small section of the "New Road"


To avoid the steep grades near the bottom, the pioneers tacked their "road" onto the face of the north wall of the crevice. The tacked-on road was supported by oak stakes secured into holes drilled into the crevice wall at two-foot intervals.  (I wonder where they got the oak)

After driving the wagons through the Hole-in-the-Rock and ferrying across the 300-foot-wide Colorado river, they proceeded east out of the river gorge pioneering the  Hole In the Rock road.

On April 6^th, 1880, after another ten weeks of grueling labor on the Hole In the Rock road in harsh winter conditions, the missionaries reached a sandy bottomland along the banks of the San Juan River where they established Bluff City.

The miles of road built after descending the Hole-in-the-Rock crosses some of the most rugged, remote terrain in North America. Deep ravines and washes, trails blasted down thousand-foot drop-offs, deserts traversed, paths through thick cedar forests cut, and steep cliffs ascended.

Many Hole In the Rock grades required seven spans of horses to pull the heavily laden wagons along the Hole In the Rock trail.

In all, the trek took six months. Food supplies were depleted, and teams of horses had been worn to the point of exhaustion. Two babies were born on the Hole In the Rock road and miraculously no one had died.

After Halls Crossing was established, the Hole In the Rock road was abandoned.

After several hours of lumbering along the Hole In the Rock road, we climbed up on to Grey Mesa where the Hole In the Rock road seems to have been well maintained... even though you know no equipment has touched it for who knows how long (if ever).  Some stretches of Grey Mesa e were taken at the breakneck speed of 30 mph.

Sign at the bottom of Grey Mesa

Because fuel and time were on our side, we elected to try the Rincon side-road off the Hole In the Rock road.  

As we dropped down into the canyon, the road has apparently disappeared from landslides near the lake as we could not reach the water, so we turned back to the main road.

A while later we arrived at the end of the Hole In the Rock road and took pictures of the trail taken by the wagons and some of the still existing rope cuts in the rock where they winched the wagons up steep hills. 

As the cold wind was whipping a light rain through your coat, we did not stay long.  A few rough miles later, we set up camp for the night.

The next morning, we finished the Hole In the Rock return trip by adding a quick side trip to the Lake Canyon washout from the other side and then made the run to Hite Crossing for lunch and gas… only to find them closed.  So back to the airport for fuel we went.  Jerry’s low-fuel light came on just as we turned into the airport.  Talk about good timing!

The Hole In the Rock trail is one that should be on your "bucket list".  Before you attempt the Hole In the Rock though, make sure your rig is in top condition.  A breakdown on the Hole In the Rock trail could be more than a bummer. 

The Hole In the Rock trail in winter is about as remote as you can get in the contiguous 48.  The closest parts and help are nearly 90-miles (Blanding) from the Hole In the Rock road.  It's 160-miles to Moab.



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