It's Going To Be A Bumpy Ride

The Hole in the Rock is a place of strength and determination. The Mormon settlers who forged this route can attest to that. They had been called in 1879 to settle the lands along the San Juan River in southeast Utah. The other two routes into that area had almost no water sources and were through lands of more hostile Native Americans. The leaders of this new settlement had found a crevice in the cliffs leading down to the Colorado River, that in their mind, could be made into a path for their wagons and animals to reach their new lands in a more direct and faster way.

Their journey across the mesa to even get to the Hole in the Rock was not easy by any means, as we can attest to from our drive here. The current road follows closely along the path they traveled with their wagons. We felt every bump and dip we went over, whether it was on high ground or down in a wash. There were ruts to traverse and obstacles to avoid, and as rough as it felt for us at times, I can only imagine what it must have been like for them in wooden wagons without tires or modern suspensions.

Along the road we came to a place they called Dance Hall Rock. It is an enormous rock that has a large natural alcove and smooth slickrock floor. Mormons loved their music and dancing, and this spot provided wonderful acoustics for fiddles and other instruments that they had brought with them. This Dance Hall became a place for celebration and relaxation after the long days and weeks of working to prepare the route down to the Colorado River. While we walked around down below absorbing the sights, Mason couldn’t resist climbing to the top of the rock and having a bird’s eye view of everything around. He found a pothole up on the top and it had all sorts of plants growing in it. I wondered if the young men of settler’s time did the same thing.

We continued the remaining miles to the end of the road. It was not until we were very close to the Hole in the Rock, that we could see the notch that rises up on this side of the river. Climbing over the boulders between the parking area and the actual Hole in the Rock, we reached the edge where their path started to go down. Mason headed down the boulder strewn path they had taken, making it about halfway. Lake Powell blocked his path from going any further. Before the dam was built, the Colorado River was much further down and the settlers had a full mile they had to go to get to the bottom. Tom headed up the taller rocks surrounding the gap for at least a half mile and had some amazing views looking out over the Hole in the Rock and blue waters of Lake Powell. It amazed me the determination and ingenuity they must have had to make this route work. They had to widen the gap enough to get the wagons through, blasting, chiseling, and moving rock, mostly by hand. They drilled holes in the walls and drove oak logs into them to hold the slope, rocks, and dirt in certain places to have a path, completing it in six weeks during the middle of winter. On January 26, 1880, they lowered their 40 wagons down this slope. With ropes attached to the back of the wagons, Men and animals used all their strength to hold them back as they were lowered, while chains were used to lock the back wheels, slowing the decent. Slowly over the course of the day, everyone and everything had reached the river bottoms. Over the course of the next week, they lowered the remaining 43 wagons as well. I am just thankful we did not have to drive down it.

Today, we fixed a couple of our window blinds that have been misbehaving lately, and they are working fine now. We also went through some more photos and got them ready for posting. Tonight was taco night, or at least our version of them. Tom made them from roast beef, and they turned out really good. Maybe we will have a muffin or pie for dessert later while we figure out what to do tomorrow.

Share your comments on Facebook or email us at roadfronts@gmail.com