Hole in the rock - redemption run

[FINOCJ]

Thanks to Steven for keeping this trip alive....very memorable experience!

okay - going to try and put together a bit more complete of a report here....start with the map:

https://www.beamingpix.com/images/2022/10/13/PXL_20221011_221337434.jpg
hwy 276 is the paved road that goes to halls crossing, UT....its still a relatively small remote paved road. We started at the you are here TH marker. we then headed the short distance SE towards the landing strip on 2131 where we turned right and headed SW. At the first main fork in the road, we stayed left/south onto 261. Historically, the more developed trail stayed right and went towards Lake Canyon on 2541, but there is a well marked impassable washout. We climbed up to the top of the Mesa and at the 'T' intersection, headed right (NW) on the windy unmarked trail (on the ground, its marked at trail 95). This is truly where the 4 wheeling starts getting fun with lots of moderate slickrock and some challenging route finding. Staying left and going south at this intersection takes you out to Nokai Dome - maybe for future exploration. We follow trail 95 to the next 'T' with 2541 having bypassed the washout zone. Next trip, I'd like to take the right and go towards the washout for a looksee, but we turned left and headed SW for the long section of trail towards Grey Mesa. We camped our first night a mile or two down from this intersection.
Day 2 took us to the end of the trail. As we headed to grey Mesa, there is a section of tough wheeling including the big ledge. Once past Grey Mesa, and stayed left at the last trail fork and headed toward the Chute and the eventual end of the trail near Alladdins Lamp pass. If you take the right fork to the north, it goes to the Rincon (old oxbow canyon of the Colorado river) - this is suppossedly the most difficult wheeling in the area - so its on the list for the next trip. After reaching the end, we turned around, climbed back out the chute and camped night two on Grey Mesa near the great bend of the San Juan River.
Day 3 we retraced our path back to the start, having to climb up the big ledge, and get the big jeeps back to the TH without running out of gas. I could easily see spending an extra night for sure to go out to the Rincon and back.

okay - this is going to happen piecemeal, so I'll start to get the pics of some of these spots loaded.

[FINOCJ]

There is probably no good way to get a good selection of photos for this trip...so just trying to get some good ones that are interesting from both a documentation perspective, and just general jeeping interest without overloading you. As most of you can guess, we really only have good photos of places where we got out, and thus it seems most of the photos are all of the same few limited spots...but it'll give you a decent idea of what this is about....The report is heavy on cj pics as I wrote this up for the ecj5 forum - so thanks to the others as I certainly didn't take action photos of my CJ while driving....not meaning to hog all the photos - of course, the other jeeps made it look easy!
here is the the trailhead...getting everything prepped, aired down, etc....this is what it looks like in all directions. Leave your tow vehicles here....I was excited to use my 'rubicon' rack. As I didn't have a passenger, I also broughr along a pretty cushy 'paco' pad for sleeping that is standard river gear. I slept out under the stars all the nights.
https://www.beamingpix.com/images/2022/10/13/PXL_20221009_202542875.jpg

Day 1 is pretty straight forward, with a good warm-up... what the 'normal' somewhat easy sections of the trail look like....
https://www.beamingpix.com/images/2022/10/13/AAA_6017-1resize.jpg

route finding on the slickrock can be challenging...
https://www.beamingpix.com/images/2022/10/13/AAA_6118resize.jpg

As you get out towards Grey Mesa things get more interesting as you start to find the remnants of the old Mormon wagon trail...as the link Doug posted previously, the Mormons went from Escalante, UT to the ESE towards what is today Bluff, UT. Their route took them SE out of Escalante on what is today called Hole-in-the-Rock road. This road is mostly easy dirt road driving with lots of interesting stuff to see and hike, but is very 'friendly' - I posted a trip Jen and I did in the area over a year ago.....Once the party made the difficult section down to the river, crossed the river, they then headed up and out the east side of the canyon toward Bluff....this east side trail is the route we drove on this trip - sometimes referred to as Hole-in-the-Rock trail - sometimes as the immigrant trail.
When you get out to Greys Mesa - this sign:
https://www.beamingpix.com/images/2022/10/13/PXL_20221010_161826083.jpg

Grey Mesa is where you really begin to see signs of the old road/trail:
Here are some sections of 'trail' that was chopped into the sandstone by the mormon road builders:
https://www.beamingpix.com/images/2022/10/13/AAA_6051resize.jpg
https://www.beamingpix.com/images/2022/10/13/DSCN0592.jpg

It doesn't take long to realize that a lot of the sections of 4wd trail that we were driving on is the exact mormon road chopped into the sandstone....and they are often the most challenging sections of the route
https://www.beamingpix.com/images/2022/10/13/PXL_20221010_171700813.jpg
https://www.beamingpix.com/images/2022/10/13/PXL_20221011_152456514.jpg

[FINOCJ]

As you pass the Grey Mesa sign, the big ledge drop and some of the most challenging spots on the trail come up....
Here is the big ledge...Doesn't look too bad at first (remember you have to go down first, and hope you can get back up later on the way out):
https://www.beamingpix.com/images/2022/10/13/AAA_6047resize.jpg

But from here it starts to look bigger - believe it or not, it wasn't an uncontrolled slide - you don't want to go right - its roll-over territory:
https://www.beamingpix.com/images/2022/10/13/AAA_6070resize.jpg
https://www.beamingpix.com/images/2022/10/13/AAA_6073resize.jpg

After the big ledge, there are some pucker-y looking shelf-style climbs, but they all drove a bit easier than they looked - some of these pics are going out (uphill), and some are coming back (downhill), but you get the idea:
https://www.beamingpix.com/images/2022/10/13/DSCN0600resize.jpg
https://www.beamingpix.com/images/2022/10/13/AAA_6226resize.jpg
https://www.beamingpix.com/images/2022/10/13/AAA_6234resize.jpg
https://www.beamingpix.com/images/2022/10/13/AAA_6218resize.jpg

After working through the slickrock/shelf sections - you come out on the top of Grey Mesa and can cruise along for a bit. Nice views of the San Juan river - we went past this spot on our way out middle of Day two, and after reaching the end of the trail, we returned to this point for Day 2 camp:
https://www.beamingpix.com/images/2022/10/13/PXL_20221010_174606896.jpg

[FINOCJ]

After crossing Grey Mesa, you come to the fork with the trail to the Rincon to the north....its on the list for next year (supposedly its the best, toughest wheeling in the area), but for this year, we stayed on the original trail to the south towards Hole in the Rock. As you drop off Grey Mesa, you find the Chute - a sort of intimidating looking, steep, barren slickrock gulley that you descend. Right after the chute, you climb up a long, steep, winding, and difficult route of slickrock - this is the highlight of the trip to me....sort of like the granite bowl on rubicon - you have to go down and then climb up to the skyline ridge - you can definitely get off route and get in trouble quickly.
https://www.beamingpix.com/images/2022/10/13/PXL_20221010_193305622.jpg

This pic is of someone climbing the chute on the way out, but gives a good idea of what it is....
https://www.beamingpix.com/images/2022/10/13/DSCN0631resize.jpg

the other side of the chute looks more like this - steep up!
https://www.beamingpix.com/images/2022/10/10/PXL_20221010_194346293.jpg

There are some challenging spots getting out to the end of the trail....but at this point, it feels pretty routine:
https://www.beamingpix.com/images/2022/10/13/AAA_6163resize.jpg

[FINOCJ]

Unfortunately, the end of the trail isn't a huge highlight....its certainly an amazing spot, but just about everywhere along the trail is. As one of our group said, this trail is more about the journey than the end point. A few more pics on the way back - generally, its easier on the way back except for the ledge....
Me lifting a tire getting up the chute:
https://www.beamingpix.com/images/2022/10/13/AAA_6170resize.jpg

Getting out the last step of the chute was the hardest part:
https://www.beamingpix.com/images/2022/10/13/DSCN0638resize.jpg

and the ledge....
looks like maybe....?
https://www.beamingpix.com/images/2022/10/13/PXL_20221011_155544532.jpg
https://www.beamingpix.com/images/2022/10/13/AAA_6241resize.jpg

nope...
https://www.beamingpix.com/images/2022/10/13/DSCN0643resize.jpg

[RockyMtRebel]

So awesome but so bummed I couldn’t join you guys! I’m going to have to plan this for next spring or fall…..

The Rincon trail is closed according to maps and BLM but clearly people drive it.

thanks for the pics and trip report!

[FINOCJ]

There are 3 different maps that I have been referencing....two of them are government agency maps: one NPS and one BLM which is the one I posted above and is the trailhead map. The 3rd is the NG map which is the best for topo. None of the 3 agreed on roads and use designations....of the 3 maps, only the BLM map from the trailhead shows the Rincon road. It's also the only map that shows the trail 95 that connects from Nokia dome across to the primary HITR route that bypasses the washout through lake canyon. So yeah....I think it's UYOJ and common sense.

[Steve-O]

Big thanks to James for the thorough write up! I do not have much to add operationally there, except that you CANNOT rely on the gas station at Hall's Crossing. Despite everything online saying it was open, the pumps were not functional when we got there (pay station not manned and general store closed just like in May). Fortunately we had enough gas in tanks and jerry cans to get us through. A local guy who works construction in the area said the pumps are liable to be turned off at any time, and without warning, and many are forced to go 100+ miles to Blanding to fill up. If I go out on this trail again, you will see me with a second jerry can...

Amazing trip, the trail is an absolute marathon and will test your wheeling skills, your rig's durability, and your trial-finding ability...

A couple of camp shots. Our camp the first night was actually the same spot as our camp the second night in May.

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Second camp, as James said, was right up on top of Grey Mesa in what was basically a scenic turnout from the trail. It should be noted for any future travelers that there were very few, if any, camping spot options between the top of Grey Mesa and the end of the trial.

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[Jim]

Is there a winch anchor at the big step/ledge?

Nice write-up. Very interested for a visit!

[FINOCJ]

Is there a winch anchor at the big step/ledge?

No manmade/permanent anchors for winching - there is a solid tree that could be used, but it would be a pretty off-angle pull. Anyone not in an 80" long vehicle should be okay - although front locker might needed. You can imagine there has been quite a bit of discussion amongst my ecj5 friends about the best way to handle the ledge. Anyone in a more modern 2 door jeep (YJ/CJ7/TJ etc) is at least 94" long and should be okay (Steven made it up without much difficulty in a 94" TJ fully locked) - that is over a foot longer than my early swb jeep. I think a fully locked (and maybe TBI) swb jeep could do it....without a front locker I probably didn't have too good of a chance, but airing down a bit more and using the rock stack a bit better might have done it. I was running 9psi, and when I am struggling for traction, I usually drop to 7psi - for whatever reason I wasn't feeling it and was happy to pull the winch cable instead of trying to work it....possibly 5 psi would have done the trick....In a few spots, both at the ledge and elsewhere, we saw what looked like un-official hammer drill holes, some with rebar stuck into them, that I think ATVs might have made/used as anchors - they probably were not strong enough for a jeep, but could copy the idea with a battery operated hammer drill and bring some sort of anchor point.....kind of intrusive in some ways but.....

Jim - FWIW, I think there is a pretty good chance the ecj5 group may put together a run for this next Oct - you'd be welcome to join. Heck, part of our discussion was that it can be a good idea to have a more modern and capable jeep along with the old jeeps to provide a little safety factor! Actually, we have a few members who have moved on from their old cjs and wheel more modern rigs these days that still join.

[RockyMtRebel]

Jim, maybe a spring visit if your Jeep is fixed ;)

I might tow my off-road trailer a few miles into the trail, with 10+ gallons of gas in tow. I'd lock it up and camp out of the Jeep on the trail but upon getting close to the trailhead I'd have the extra gas waiting at my trailer. March or April would probably be good months, May was WAY too hot when we tried it earlier this year.

[FINOCJ]

Gas is critical...Steven mentioned it, but there was not gas at Halls Crossing, and I would not count on it at anytime in the near future (until the lake level is high enough for the marina to be open at least). Steven and Gretchen filled their stock tanks up in Blanding (18-20 gallons?), and each had an additional 4-5 gallon can of gas. I think Steven's TJ would have made it all the way back to Blanding, but it would have been a bit tight. The big 4dr JL on 37s with extra RTT/overlanding weight (and a smaller rotopax extra can) would not have made it to Blanding. It was on fumes when it got back to the trailhead. We siphoned gas out of my cj rear tank and put it into the other two jeeps - as I towed the cj to the trailhead and carried 25 gallons in the jeep, I had plenty of extra gas. I think I used 12-13 gallons on trail....if I had driven the jeep to and from blanding as well - about 150 miles, that would be another 12-13 gallons used. I probably don't get as good mpg as some of the modern stuff, especially off-road with the carb, but 25 gallons is kind of the absolute minimum and doesn't give you much margin for error, or opportunity to explore some of the dead end spurs etc....I would plan on 30 gallons if I was driving to and from blanding. As Matt suggested, just having 5 gallons near the trailhead to get you back to blanding is helpful. I wish I would have left 5 gallons in a can in my truck at the trailhead to give to Gretchen as siphoning it out of the tank was kind of a PITA.

[DaveO]

Do ya'll think a Gladiator could make it up/down "ledge"? It has a "big butt" hanging out behind the rear axle...

[FINOCJ]

Do ya'll think a Gladiator could make it up/down "ledge"? It has a "big butt" hanging out behind the rear axle...

Probably depends on how lifted and how big of a tire it's running...my guess is unless it's running 37s etc, that rear overhang is going to drag significantly.