Anybody done Hole in the Rock Trail (not Road) recently?

I'm interested in driving the Hole in the Rock Trail. This is the route on the east side of the water, reached by turning off Hwy 276 east of Halls Crossing. Not to be confused with the Road, accessed from Escalante, that terminates on the west side of Lake Powell.

Anybody driven it lately, maybe even this year? Does it seem possible with a modestly-upgraded Xterra?

My chariot will be the one shown in my avatar: a 2010 Xterra Offroad, with a 3" lift; BFG All Terrain TA's (aired down); stock rear locker; and Shrockworks rocker guards, skid plates, and front bumper/bullbar.

I gather the first ten miles or so from the highway are pretty easy. I did pick up a tidbit indicating the route is impassable when wet, but I'm not sure exactly why...maybe due to steep slickrock sections? Or does it just get muddy out there?

We did the route partially in July 2011 with an unmodified Jeep Wrangler Unlimited.

The old route through Lake Canyon is said to be impassable now but San Juan County(?) built another trail branching off the Nokai Dome Road. The first miles are not too difficult but rocky and annoying.

After a while nasty weather - heavy thunderstorms - approached from the West. We decided to turn around. We learned later that this was a good idea. Therefore I have no idea how the trail is farther to the west.

I was on it in 2010. The Lake Canyon side is definately impassable to a standard width vehicle. We made it through just barely with 4 wheelers. If anymore sand has sluffed off you could not even get them through.

Just after the new road meets the the old road is where the difficulties really begin. We made it to the miners dugway before it got too rough for us. Lots of bid step ups.

Pretty rough country and kinda remote. I would recommend at least two vehicles although we ran into several different parties while we were on it. Neat country, have fun.:nod:

As of recently getting through Lake Canyon isn't even passable with a Motorbike :)

I would not suggest going out alone for your first trip out there (some rout-finding has caused others issues before) and it will help to have a spotter.. But your Xterra can do it :)

On my last Hole In The Rock trip in 2010 we checked out the Lake Canyon washout from both sides.

Where the road used to be at the top of the photo. washed out wall to wall.
http://inlinethumb27.webshots.com/47...600x600Q85.jpg

http://inlinethumb63.webshots.com/45...600x600Q85.jpg

http://inlinethumb15.webshots.com/45...600x600Q85.jpg
No getting up the first bypass just around that corner any more.

The HITR Trail gets an extra difficulty rating just for remoteness factor, we used two vehicles to pull a disabled rig in our party almost all the way off the trail one time, winching him over the ledge at the top of the Chute.

LOL, yeah, that looks washed out! Thanks for the info, everybody.

Thanksgiving 2011 is my last time. It was good from the Nokai Dome road. there are a few spots that will challange your Xterra but if you had two rigs and maybe a winch I would say no problem. When I have gone it has always been an overnighter.

When are you going?

http://www.bogley.com/forum/showthre...-The-Rock-trip

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Originally Posted by fourtycal

When are you going?

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I was hoping to go "soon", but it looks like the weather may get the better of me...I don't particularly want to head out there in 100F type weather! :fitz: So this is likely to be put off until fall. But I'm pretty spur-of-the-moment so you never know, if there's some good weather when I'm off work for a couple of days, you might come back here and find a trip report from me! :haha:

Thanks for the link to your report.

This is still very much on my to-do list! I have some vacation time scheduled the second week of October. I wonder if that will be a good time to attempt this? Guess it will all depend on the weather. Temperatures should be reasonable by then, hopefully winter doesn't come early this year, LOL!

October should be a great time for it :)

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Originally Posted by Candace66

This is still very much on my to-do list!

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I bet it would be great in October. Wish I could make it. I have a feeling I will be headed there the day after Thanksgiving if you are interested then.

Planning on being in Moab Oct 19-21st with a few xterras and a couple jeeps if your interested. 8016248621 Justin

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Originally Posted by fourtycal

I bet it would be great in October. Wish I could make it. I have a feeling I will be headed there the day after Thanksgiving if you are interested then.

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Thanks, but I'll be in SoCal for Thanksgiving!

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Originally Posted by SyndicateX

Planning on being in Moab Oct 19-21st with a few xterras and a couple jeeps if your interested. 8016248621 Justin

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My vacation time is 7-13 October. At this point, I don't know what my work schedule will look like after that so I may be working that weekend. But I'll keep this in mind.

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Originally Posted by Candace66

Thanks, but I'll be in SoCal for Thanksgiving!



My vacation time is 7-13 October. At this point, I don't know what my work schedule will look like after that so I may be working that weekend. But I'll keep this in mind.

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Text me anyways and I can fill you in on xterra get togethers if you'd like.

On the Canyonlands NP site, they caution about the condition of some backcountry roads in the park, esp. in the Needles district, due to the Aug/Sept rains. Which led me to wonder how Hole In the Rock trail might have been affected. Guess I could try contacting the BLM (I think it's in their territory?). But who knows how often they send a ranger out there, or receive good information from citizens who visit the area.

I would call the San Juan county roads department (435)587-3230 I bet they would have current information about the access roads to the trail. Maybe being locals they would have some current info on the trail as well.

We ran it in March. Here's a video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8sAn8dOwUU


If you've got a decent background with rockcrawling, your rig should be fine. If you've never done anything like this, you may be out of your comfort zone. I'd definitely recommend running it with at least one or two other vehicles.

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Originally Posted by sixstringsteve

I'd definitely recommend running it with at least one or two other vehicles.

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Sounds good, but trying to coordinate it (what with my stupid work schedule) is a challenge! Thanks for the vid!

We're thinking about running it again in March/April. Let me know if you'd be interested.

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Originally Posted by sixstringsteve

We're thinking about running it again in March/April. Let me know if you'd be interested.

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:cool2: When will you have the dates set?

I should have some tentative dates in the next week or so. We'd like to keep it a small group so I'll PM you the details.

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Originally Posted by sixstringsteve

I should have some tentative dates in the next week or so. We'd like to keep it a small group so I'll PM you the details.

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:cool2: Thx!