Hole-in-the-Rock Adventure 2010
Thursday, April 8, 2010 | Day 1
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Late last year I finally decided to put together a trip that has been on my to-do list for way to long. I needed to finish driving the Hole-in-the-Rock Expedition (San Juan Mission) Route by driving the Hole-in-the-Rock Trail. I had driven pretty much all of the other sections of the route that are drivable except for this one. This was planned as a three day trip so that we could take our time and also get in some hiking along the trail. My adventure started on Thursday, which was the day before we were supposed to meet at the trail. I wanted to take my time driving to the trail near Hall's Crossing and also make a few stops along the way.
After stopping at Back of Beyond Books in Moab and filling up my gas tank in Blanding, I set off west on UT-95. Of course I had to stop at 'Salvation Knoll' since it was an important landmark to George Hobbs and the Hole-in-the-Rock Expedition.
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From Salvation Knoll I made my way further west to my first trail of the trip. On my maps, I noticed there was a segment of the Hole-in-the-Rock trail that I had not driven that connected UT-95 and UT-276. After some research into the route, I found that it is still a valid route that is open to motorized travel, so I figured I would give it a try.
When I reached the turnoff from the highway, I was greeted with a well maintained county road. The sign even marked it as part of the Mormon Trail
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After a mile or two of the easy pretty well maintained road, it got a little rougher and crossed some slickrock sections
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Eventually I reached a large section of slickrock that dropped off into a small canyon. I didn't immediately find a way down, so I parked the Jeep and hiked around for a while until I picked up the trail again. From this point on, the well maintained county road was left behind and the much rougher and narrower trail continued. It was hard to follow in many places and required that I hike ahead first, but there were enough signs along the way to reassure myself that I was on the right track.
Marker along the route indicating this was part of the Hole-in-the-Rock Expedition
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Re: Hole-in-the-Rock Adventure 2010
Thx for the report and pics. looking forward to more.
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