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Show : -. ' , ., .... ..... . : t '' " : " ' '' ' . ' -,' ,. '' .' ' '.,,'iV . ... I I-..t H.ll . Rck, where hardy Mormon pioneers six bitter winter weeks in 1 S 7 9 , is full of inscrip- fa Trek to Fabled Hole In The Rock Described I Moab Tour Guide; History Recalled I BY SLIM MABERY rs to be a " day ad-Vr? ad-Vr? e:o the land of un-ixciast, un-ixciast, of lofty nwun-:j nwun-:j ri evergreen forests - buibling streams, of Lred desens, winding. c canyons and rourided lii.trsis. It i a land to s.rb qiet'y, where one 13 sK"Ch and soul-sat-trjg hanony through its iii ad cajesty. It would Ji ie traveler over the :-.t; and Boulder Moun-Z2. Moun-Z2. jii old mining camps, t.x; i p-xuon of Capitol :a Xsiial Park and into -: jimble of can-iTi can-iTi cliffs that lie to the siias: of Escalante. This ?a 5 trek that I wouit. not xt ere my ey2 tee;h to j;. my entire upper it'er set as well. trek would be a ser-of ser-of Tag-A-Lor.g Tours tfi course, Mitch Wil-had Wil-had elected to conduct - itself. However, busi-''SJn busi-''SJn b.xming and Mitch li:-7 couldn't spend a week 1 tern the office. His i 'i 'cnitte proved to be -; cae misfortune. I was -'.al to go. Our clients; were Mrs. Charles Manchester and her sen, Manny, of Honolulu, Hawaii. Manny's primary interests in-terests wore in rock-hounding v.hile Mrs. Manchester was enthusiastically interested in just about everything the area had to offer. Hislorj'i prehistory, photography, ge-clcgy, ge-clcgy, wildlife, botany you name it she was interested. interest-ed. And. of course, our Can-yonlands Can-yonlands Country is richly endowed with a bountiful . supply of them all. From Goblin Valley From Goblin Valley we jeeped souihwcstward down the twisting, turning tortuous tortu-ous course of Wild Horse Canyon. Out on Little Wild ILirse Mesa we paused for a view down onto the little painted desert which is much more vividly colored than the most colorful tections of the famous Painted Desert of Arizona. Mrs. Manchester went wild with her camera. Ahead oi us was Muddy Creek and I was aware of the quicksand to be encountered encoun-tered there. We stopped well back from the north bank and tested. Sure enough, the soil j Charles Manchester and her son, "y. of Honolulu, Hawaii, find am--PponUnity on their trek to look for 'C and gem specimens. The visit trac tions dating back to that time. waved as we walked across it. I found a gravely patch, which seemed suitable for a crossing, and headed for it. My momentum was not quite enough, however, and, to the delight of my clients, we bogged to the hubs in gooey, quicksand. Mrs. Manchester recorded everything on film and it proved to be one of the highlights of the trek for Manny. . Dandelion Flat In the Henry Mountains we camped at Dandelion Flat, at an elevation of 8.40O feet. Cold, clear springs were gurgling gur-gling from the hillsides. We placed our mellons in the crystal streams to get them cold and refilled our containers contain-ers with sweet waters that had nuhor cholorine or the contamination of flowing through miles of pipeline. We also enjoyed a dessert of wild raspberries and drifted off to sleep to the sounds of water over rocks as presented present-ed by a clear mountain stream. Before leaving the Henry's we took a sashay into in-to Brcmide Basin where Jack Sumner, a member of Major Powell's voyage in 1869, and , . , .... - , X i I .. . . V- ' i , X 1 " t.f'i 'At, 'V - ' ; ' . ' y ... , , , f - 1 n "r " - . 1 - cd the route of the Mormon pioneers, who in 1879 crossed this rugged country in search of a "shirt cut" to San Juan. (Photos by Slim Maberyj. , Jack Butler discovered gold while hiking in these mountains moun-tains in 1889. An interesting sidelight is the fact that the father and mother of Moab's Don Knowies, of Gambles Store, spent their honeymoon honey-moon and several years of their early married life in Bromide Basin. Petrified Forest After a plunge down from the mountains we learned of a petrified forest tucked beneath be-neath the red sandstone cliffs about 4 miles, north of ToiTey. We spent several delightful de-lightful hours comparing rock specimens in this picturesque pictures-que spot. The trip over Boulder Mountain was rich and rewarding re-warding as it offered many breathtaking vistas over Capitol Ca-pitol Reef National Park and the Water Pocket Fold to the Henry Mountains to the cast. Southward we looked down onto the Essalante River Ri-ver Canyon country where the winding, twisting waterways water-ways snake through walls and mounds, arches and Natural Bridges on their way to Lake Powell; and along the Straight Cliffs to Navajo Mountain on the Arizona bor der. Somewnere in mis intriguing in-triguing maze would be our destination The Hole-in-the-Rock. The First Road In Boulder Town we stop ped at the Phillips 66 Store where owner Bud Alvie told us of the first road to be built into that remote settlement set-tlement as late as the early 1930's. This road, which still exists .would take one over a narrow, 9,000 ft. ridge called call-ed Hell's Backbone. It seems that, in those days, the only feas ble route for a rend between be-tween Escalante and Boulder was to go over "one hell of a backbone." . We decided to explore this route. Some ZV2 miles southwest of Boulder we left the main highway and soon found ourselves our-selves in the bottom of Sand Creek Canyon at an elevation of seme 8,000 feet. We could see a bridge spanning a narrow nar-row gap on the skyline another an-other thousand feet directly above us. We soon rolled into in-to a tiny parking area at the south end of this bridge for a view of some of the most rugged country I have yet seen. To our right was a sheer drop of a thousand feet to the Sand Creek crossing we had just left. To our left was a drop of some 2,000 feet into Phipps Death Hollow, Hol-low, an outstanding natural area of grotesque forms in colorful sandstone monoliths. The wooden bridge spans a notch about 40 ft. across and 75 feet deep, as between two vertebrae in this narrow backbone where there is barly enough room for the narrow, winding road. A Friendly Town In the friendly, little .town Continued ou Page p3 Hole in the Rock Trip . . . Continued from Page Bl ; of Escalante we visited with Mayor Bill Davis, members of the U.S. Forest Service, and with District Manager Garold Lamb and his lovely receptionist at the BLM Office. Of-fice. Everyone went all out to arm 'us with up-to-date maps and ether information pertaining to the last leg of our trek, the Hole-in-the-Rock Trail. Said one fellow, "It's only 58 miles. You can make the round trip in a little more than two and a half hours." We spent the better part of two days and felt we needed considerable more time. Important Stops Enroute to and from the "Hole" we paid visits to such places as Tenmile Spring in Harris Wash, an important camp, watering and pasturing area for the Mormon Mor-mon pioneers and their livestock live-stock during their historic Hole-in-the-Rock Trek in the fall of 1879. About 9 miles south of here is Garfield County's Devils Garden area. Only a short distance west of the Hole-in-the-Rock trail it .is a fantastically eroded area containing several small arches, pinnacles, alcoves, grottos and the like. At Twentymile Wash we took a side trip into Collett Canyon to about three miles past Collett Top, a rest stop, watering place and lookout for early day pioneers. Collett Col-lett Canyon was named in honor of Reuben Collett, early ear-ly explorer of the Escalante country. As farmer, cattleman, cattle-man, store keeper and the town constable, he and Bishop Bi-shop Andrew P. Schow helped help-ed develop that outpost into a thriving community prior to being "called" to scout a "short cut to the San Juan." The canyon walls a;e fantastically fan-tastically eroded and honeycombed honey-combed into thousands of weird oddities. Just south of here one can still find remnants rem-nants of the original Hole-in-the-Rock Trail as it approaches ap-proaches a deep side canyon off Twentymile Wash. Dance Hall Rock As we paused at Dance Hall Rock we saw more than a brilliantly colored monolith of red sandstone decorated with splashes of white and sculptered into an architectural architec-tural dream. On the "dance floor" at the front of he large "band shell" or stage, we could visualize ruddy, bearded faced men in dungarees dung-arees and heavy boots, "swinging their partners" who were clad in blouses and long skirts of gingham and calico and high, buttoned shoes. As the blood surged in our veins we explored the alcoves and "pockets" in back of the Dance Hall. Carved Carv-ed 1 into a nearby rock we saw the name of Phil 0. E. Collett, a cousin of Reuben Collett, carved in 1881. We found the "corral pocket," used as a natural holding corral for livestock, and, although al-though the original fence across ac-ross the entrance to the pocket pock-et has' since been replaced with wire we were thrilled to discover a few remnants of the original. We arrived at Hole-in-the-Rcck in the late afternoon and walked over to the top for a look down before preparing pre-paring cur camp for the night. Here, on the threshold thresh-old of the first major barrier bar-rier to face the hardy men and women of the San Juan Mission, we stood and gazed down through the incredibly narrow slot at the blue waters wa-ters of Lake Powell 800 feet below. Across these blue waters were the Register Rocks, Cottonwood Hill and the Impassible Country beyond. be-yond. To our right loomed Navajo Mountain which now seemed so close one could feel its nearness. Here the hardy Mormons had ' spent six wintery weeks blasting a wagon road down to the Colorado Co-lorado River some 500 additional ad-ditional feet below the present pre-sent water level. Again the blood ran wild in our veins and we simply had to see a little more. As we descended descend-ed "a little further" a mysterious mys-terious "pull" seemed to come over us. We simply couldn't stop and soon found ourselves dabbling our weary feet in the soothing waters of Lake Powell. Blocks the Way After descending the narrow nar-row entrance at the top of the "Hole," one comes to a huge boulder that has since fallen from the left wall, bridging the bottom of the slot. One can either go around ar-ound to the left of this boulder boul-der and down a steep face, or he can go under it. Just below this boulder is a horizontal hori-zontal crack in the right hand wall that slopes upward to- wards the outer cliff face. It serves as a source to supply a dripping spring of sweet water. Ferns and other water-loving plants and shrubs are growing in profusion. As the crack disappears into the abyss beneath the boulder it creates a small pool where a pair of frogs were spending spend-ing their honeymoon. Continuing on down the chute one comes upon "Uncle Ben's Dugway," where the road was literally hung onto the cliff way. Named in honor of its engineer, Benjamin Ben-jamin Perkins, it was accomplished ac-complished by first hacking a small shelf into the wall for the "inside" wagon wheels to roll on. Holes were then drilled parallel to and some 5 to 6 feet below this shelf. Oak stakes were driven into these holes and logs stacked against them on the uphill sides. On these were piled brush, rocks and dirt and other debris making a track or shelf for the outside ' wheels. These stakes have since rotted away but some of the log materials can still be observed in the chasm below. be-low. Some of the original rock work at either end of the dugway is still hanging onto the cliff face. Not Be Swallowed ' As we gazed on this masterpiece mas-terpiece ingenuity and determination de-termination we offered our silent Thanks to God that this exhibit will not become swallowed beneath the waters wa-ters of Lake Powell. For this and other exhibits along the "Hole" are educational masterpieces mas-terpieces that so vividly portray por-tray the sweat and blood that was poured out by a handful of determined and dedicated pioneers one that played such a vital role in the settling settl-ing of Southeastern Ut. Far here, on January 26, 1880, twenty six wagons, loaded with provisions, were lowered lower-ed over the cliffs and ferried across the Colorado River. A total of 83 wagons, 250 persons per-sons and over 1,000 head of stick made the perilous1 descent des-cent during the original "trek" without the aid of modern equipment and with-ointbe with-ointbe loss of a single life. An 'almost unbelievable fete one their descendants must be justifiably proud of. |
