"Extreme washouts ahead. Enter at your own risk," the sign warned. Someone had even scrawled a skull and crossbones next to the hand-painted message. We were still on graded dirt, just a few miles into the famous Hole-in-the-Rock road. The route is one of our favorites, and we know it well. Why would someone (a local?) go to the trouble of planting a homemade sign with such a dire warning way out here? Extreme washouts? The southeastern Utah desert gets hammered regularly by flash floods from violent summer thunderstorms. Washouts are normal and expected, so we shrugged off the warning. The six vehicles in our party were all well-equipped for this classic red-desert adventure. We figured we could deal with any washouts. And deal with it we did when we found the reason for the ominous notice.
Hole-in-the-Rock is more than a road. It is one of the most amazing stories in Utah history. In 1879, a band of LDS (more properly, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or Mormon) pioneers heeded their church's call to colonize a portion of southeast Utah. Heading east from the area of Escalante, Utah, their goal was to establish new settlements along the San Juan River in the area of current-day Bluff. Pull out your Utah maps and consider their route. In addition to almost 200 miles of some of the roughest desert in the United States, the route crossed the Colorado River deep in the canyon now occupied by Lake Powell. It is hard to believe now, but the planned "direct" route was considered to be most efficient at the time.
In October 1879, around 250 men, women, and children left Escalante with loaded wagons and nearly 1,000 head of livestock on the journey to their new homes. A scouting party had identified a general route and estimated the trip would take six weeks. The actual expedition took over six months, lasting all through an unusually bitter winter, and included some of the most astounding road-building feats ever completed in the American West. The caravan built its own road the entire way. The terrain the caravan traversed is almost unbelievably difficult. The single, most amazing feat involved reaching the Colorado River through a narrow cleft in the towering wall on the west side of the canyon. This "hole-in-the-rock" gave its name to the route and the brave party that created it. A detailed account of this incredible trek is the subject of an outstanding book by David E. Miller.
We were six vehicles on our latest journey into the past on the Hole-in-the-Rock road. Four to six vehicles is probably the optimum number for adventures such as these. Enough vehicles for good mutual support, few enough to travel efficiently. | 
We found the washout! The lower part of Lake Canyon changed dramatically from our last trip through here. The twin sign posts that stood next to the former exit route are barely visible at the left edge of the photo. | 
The new exit from Lake Canyon is considerably more challenging than the former route. A tight lefthand turn leads to a steep, off-camber climb to the top of a fin. This fin provides passage back from the rim and into the sandstone maze on the west side of the canyon. |