Share Our World: Hole in the Rock

During our Family Lake Powell Vaction we took the pontoon boat on a couple of trips together, to Rainbow Bridge and to Hole in the Rock.

Picture looking at Lake Powell from Hole in the Rock Trail

Hole in the Rock has a fascinating history, especially for me as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

In late 1879 members of the church from Parowan, Paragonah, and Cedar City. were asked to settle the San Juan Mission, east of the Colorado River.

The group of 250 men, women and children with wagons and livestock made it to 40 Mile Spring in December 1879 and had to make a decision to turn back or move ahead through the "short cut" in the Glen Canyon wall.

Below are current day Google maps showing the driving route and walking route from Paragonah to Montezuma Creek in the San Juan Valley.

The driving route shows a couple routes that are close to 400 miles. The north route being 378 miles and the south route 342 miles. According to the church website if the pioneers turned back" the only other trail [was] more than four hundred miles".

The walking route goes through Lake Powell just a bit higher up river. I marked an x where Hole in the Rock is located.

Heeding the call of the prophet and decision to move ahead from their leader. The pioneers worked for the next 6 weeks in three groups, one to work at the crevice, one to build a road from the crevice to the river three-quarters of a mile away, and one to build a ferry.

It is hard to tell from this angle- there is the upper third of the canyon has a 45-degree angle and a nearly two-thousand-foot drop. In late January after 6 weeks of hard work these pioneers all made it down this steep cliff.

On April 6, 1880 they made it to their destination, over 150 miles more miles of rough and rugged wilderness.

For more details and inspiring stories see LDS- Hole in the Rock

In comparison we came to the location on our pontoon boat and hike part of the path (except @jarvie and Kristen went to the top) and played in the water on a beautiful summer day.

I admire these "Mormon" Pioneers that left a legacy of faith, tenacity and determination. I walked a very small portion of their close to 300 mile journey.