The Hole in the Rock Trail (often hyphenated as Hole-in-the-Rock) is a historic trail running east-southeast from the town of

Escalante Escalante may refer to: People *Amat Escalante (born 1979), Mexican filmmaker *Bernardino de Escalante (born 1537), 16th-century Spanish writer, author of one of the first European books on China *Enrique Escalante (born 1984), Puerto Rican volley ...

in southern

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

in the western

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The

Mormon Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...

trailblazers who established this trail crossed the

Colorado River The Colorado River ( es, Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid drainage basin, watershed that encompasses parts of ...

and ended their journey in the town of

Bluff Bluff or The Bluff may refer to: Places Australia * Bluff, Queensland, Australia, a town * The Bluff, Queensland (Ipswich), a rural locality in the city of Ipswich * The Bluff, Queensland (Toowoomba Region), a rural locality * Bluff River (New ...

. The Hole-in-the-Rock expedition established the trail in 1879. The trail is located within the borders of the

Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument The Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument (GSENM) is a United States national monument protecting the Grand Staircase, the Kaiparowits Plateau, and the Canyons of the Escalante (Escalante River) in southern Utah. It was established in 199 ...

, the adjacent

Glen Canyon National Recreation Area Glen Canyon National Recreation Area (shortened to Glen Canyon NRA or GCNRA) is a national recreation area and conservation unit of the United States National Park Service that encompasses the area around Lake Powell and lower Cataract Canyon i ...

and federal

Bureau of Land Management The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands. Headquartered in Washington DC, and with oversight over , it governs one eighth of the country's la ...

(BLM) public land to the east of the Colorado River. A geologic feature called the Hole in the Rock gave the trail its name. A modern unpaved road called the Hole-in-the-Rock Road (BLM Road 200) closely follows this historic trail to the point where it enters the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. The modern road is an important access route for visiting the

Canyons of the Escalante The Canyons of the Escalante is a collective name for the erosional landforms created by the Escalante River and its tributariesthe ''Escalante River Basin''. Located in southern Utah in the western United States, these sandstone features includ ...

and the Devils Garden. The trail is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

, being added to that list in 1982.

Route description

The trail follows a route starting near

Escalante, Utah Escalante () is a city in central Garfield County, Utah, United States, located along Utah Scenic Byway 12 (SR-12) in the south-central part of the state. As of the 2010 census, 797 people were living in the city. The city is named after Silv ...

, and ending in Bluff, Utah, and is named for the place where the San Juan Mission of Mormon pioneers constructed a descent to the

. The natural crevice on the cliff above the Colorado was enlarged by the party to lower the wagons down to river level, where it could be forded. The portion of the trail below the Hole-In-The-Rock is now flooded by

Lake Powell Lake Powell is an artificial reservoir on the Colorado River in Utah and Arizona, United States. It is a major vacation destination visited by approximately two million people every year. It is the second largest artificial reservoir by maximum ...

. After the river crossing the trail continued past the Register Rocks, where the settlers recorded their names, now covered by the lake. The road rises through the Chute and across slickrock

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

to Grey Mesa. Another difficult descent was required from Grey Mesa, requiring the party to cut a road from one ledge to another on the face of the mesa, taking a week. Another week was spent in constructing a road down Clay Hill Pass. Further on, blocked by

Comb Ridge Comb Ridge ( nv, ) is a linear north to south-trending monocline nearly 80 miles long in Southeastern Utah and Northeastern Arizona. Its northern end merges with the Abajo Mountains some eleven miles west of Blanding. It extends essentially du ...

, the trail follows Comb Wash to San Juan Hill, where yet another road was built up the hill. The trail ends in Bluff. File:UTMap-doton-SanJuanExp.png, Entire trail - Escalante (left) to Bluff (right) File:UTMap-doton-HITTRRoad.png, Current Hole-in-the-Rock Road - Escalante to the Hole-in-the-Rock

Gallery

File:Metate Arch - Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.jpg, Metate Arch in Devils Garden File:PeekaBoo.jpg, Peek-a-Boo Gulch File:SpookyGulchUT.jpg, Spooky Gulch (

video Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) syste ...

) File:HoleInTheRock.jpg, Hole-in-the-Rock, looking down at

References

External links

Hole-in-the Rock, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area
U.S. National Park Service
TopoQuest Map
* at the National Park Service's NRHP database * {{authority control Roads in Utah National Register of Historic Places in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument Transportation in Garfield County, Utah Transportation in Kane County, Utah Transportation in San Juan County, Utah Roads on the National Register of Historic Places in Utah National Register of Historic Places in Garfield County, Utah National Register of Historic Places in Kane County, Utah National Register of Historic Places in San Juan County, Utah Historic American Engineering Record in Utah

Route description

Gallery

See also

References

External links