Re: Utah Day 2

Following our plan of hiking one day and off-roading the next, we headed
toward Escalante, Utah to drive the Hole In The Rock Trail and see Lake
Powell at the southern end in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National
Monument.  This is almost entirely BLM land and is a nice way to spend
the day.  You get the feeling of the vastness of the area when going
thru it.  It just feels big.
 
<https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/ltfyk0wfvn4vgf0ca1m7c/Views1.JPG?rlkey=11g4svo5fbiwlkh2aw0gbqoal&dl=0>
 
<https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/annjlf8afn6w4y61v8qft/Views2.JPG?rlkey=rxkh2x1mtl55vxsj380oqg2cn&dl=0>
 
Though quite a famous trail or road if you will, it is not a very
technical off-road route, with the possible exception of the last 10
miles or so.  This road can be done in most pickups, 4x4 when it gets
wet is needed as it all turns to a muddy mess.  It turned out to be a
great place to let the wife try her hand behind the wheel off-roading.
I drove out and let her drive back.  So she got her first 58 miles
driving her Bronco on something other than pavement.  She scared the
hell out of me, to be honest.

 
<https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/llnrz1ily5ulwvo2bqnn4/Hole1.JPG?rlkey=vogp9brkhw7nykibsxbp82ft8&dl=0>
 
<https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/sqeor37sd4uva1cltctgn/Hole2.JPG?rlkey=cjwea08hdj0tvtgwvze0xkmd3&dl=0>
 
<https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/dt5eueampzlsn30sli6zb/Hole-In-The-Rock-Track.jpg?rlkey=3ars9117fqokuppk10sz6cnc8&dl=0>
 
This road was built by the Mormons and they actually carved this
existing narrow hole in the rock opening they found and traversed
carriages down to the bottom.  The road portion ends here, but you can
hike the trail that eventually ends in Bluff, Utah where we stayed for
the second part of this trip.
 
One thing we saw that bothered us was a van parked out in an area which
we figured its occupants must be hiking.  The window was knocked out
just behind the drivers door and you had to wonder if someone had broken
it to get in and steal things.  We did see a couple boon-dockers at the
beginning of the trail, but after a few miles it was only cattle.  Not
many, just a few here and there.
 
<https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/l2pnrakq57llb8ubilfu8/VanWithBrokenWindow.JPG?rlkey=g5kcr99s39nxtqa2bfmvschrv&dl=0>
 
All in all, it was nice to have a relaxing day that ended early enough
for a steak on the grill, campfire, and a good nights rest.  I would
need that as we had a much harder hike planned for the next day.