Hole-in-the-Rock Adventure | Day 4 & 5
Sunday, April 11, 2010 | Day 4
Monday, April 12, 2010 | Day 5
We had camped pretty close to the end of the trail the previous night, so once we were up and packed up we made our way back to the highway. I didn’t stop for anymore photos on the way out. Once back at the highway, a few of us stopped at Cal Black Memorial Airport to fuel up. Everyone else was heading back home, but I had one more day to do some exploring. On my way back towards Blanding I decided to try and head down Red Canyon to Lake Powell.
It started out as a recently maintained county road through some great scenery
Henry Mountains in the distance
Eventually the road started to get a little rougher and had not been maintained recently. There were a lot of rocks and small boulders that had fallen from the canyon walls and had to be avoided…..even one large boulder I was able to squeeze by.
Unfortunately I took a wrong turn by staying on the main road and not following the bottom of Red Canyon and didn’t quite make it to Lake Powell. By the time I realized my error, it was time to turn around and head back out, so I’ll have to come back other time to finish all of Red Canyon. There are a number of side trails in the area, so I need to go back anyways 😉
When I reached the pavement again, I headed to Blanding for some dinner. Being a Sunday in Utah, pretty much my only option was Subway. After dinner I headed south to Bluff so that I could check out The Bluff Fort Historic Site, which is dedicated to the San Juan Mission and their settlement at Bluff, Utah. I figured that stopping my this site would be the perfect end to my Hole-in-the-Rock weekend!
The Navajo Twins towering above Bluff
Sunbonnet Rock, dedicated to the pioneers of the San Juan Mission in 1958
Sunbonnet Rock and the Navajo Twins
Here’s a few photos from The Bluff Fort Historic Site
Kumen Jones Ruin
The Barton’s well and cabin
Plenty of wagons around
But I think this was the coolest wagon at the site, as it was one of the original wagons to travel through the Hole-in-the-Rock trail
After wandering around the Bluff Fort for a while, it started to get late so I needed to find a place to camp. I decided to head over to the Sand Island Recreation Area a few miles outside of Bluff for the night.
From my campsite, I was able to walk over to the Sand Island petroglyphs and shoot a few photos.
After a good nights sleep, I headed over to the Twin Rocks Cafe for some breakfast and then up to the Bluff Cemetary, where I found the grave sites of some of the original pioneers.
Before heading home, I stopped at the Bluff Fort again. This time while they were open.
This was definitely a trip to remember!