Hole In The Rock Trail
We met up in Blanding, the city we were all staying in, which is one hour and 10 minutes' drive or 83 miles to the trailhead of the Hole In The Rock Trail. The weather was sunny and hot, but it's Utah so we expected it!
First, we stopped for gas at Halls Crossing before starting on the trail.
The first part of the Hole In The Rock Trail was easy going for the most part. Sand and some small rocks were the key features of the trail and scenery.
Soon, we came to some ledges and a section with slickrock after passing the old, wrecked pick-up truck (it was a half-track, which was pretty cool).
Navigating our way through the Dome Rock area was fun, there are a lot of side trails crossing each other and it was hard to tell if we were on the main trail at times. We first missed the turn for the ledge drop. Matt had seen that there was a split in the trail -- one way it appeared easier, and the other way went down a steep, slickrock hill with a drop-off at the end. Matt went up that slickrock slab but turned around and went back down. The rest of the group followed behind Matt up and down the slab.
When we arrived at the "Y" after about half a day of driving, we went to the left at the sign that indicated that was the way for Hole In The Rock Trail. It was the only sign on the whole trail.
For a short time, the trail got easier, and we had a lot of great views of the area. We all had fun going through the Wash, and after, there was more slickrock that lead to a narrow trail that was close to the edge of a cliff.
Near the start of the Chute area, we stopped. Sean started telling us that he was hearing a noise from his Jeep. We decided it was late in the day and maybe it was time to turn around and start going back, we were afraid his Jeep was breaking.
After some time, we ran into a group of full-sized trucks driving down Hole In The Rock Trail, it was somewhere around the Twister. One truck looked very top heavy with the roof rack piled high with camping equipment and their tents. We talked with them for a few minutes. It was nice to have a short break.
After driving for a bit more time, Sean stopped. We looked at his Jeep as the noise was getting very bad. Matt could hear the banging from his Jeep from his own Jeep in front of Sean.
Matt and Jason could see right away that his shocks and track bar mounting bracket were scratched up. As they looked closer, Matt could see that Sean's right rear upper control arm at the axle was missing the bolt to hold it in place. So, after removing the right rear tire from Sean's Jeep, we started looking for a way to fix the control arm with something to hold it place.
Julie said that she may have a bolt that size or close to the correct size. As it turned out, Julie carries a good selection of bolts in a few boxes in her Jeep. The last box did have a bolt that worked. Julie saved the day!
Matt and Jason worked on installing the bolt. At first it was hard trying to line up the bolt hole, but after a few tries they got the bolt hole lined up and installed the bolt.
That fixed all the noise coming from Sean's Jeep. Phew! The rest of the trail went without any issues.
Hole In The Rock Trail is a long trail, but we all had a good time and enjoyed the views and challenges that we ran into on the trail. It was a good start to the Utah trip.
Reports from Other Days: 2
Use the arrows or dots to flip through the previews of the other reports for Hole In The Rock Trail. Click one of them to read more and see all of the photos from that day.
