There is a road that travels some 55 miles south of Escalante, Utah, ending at Lake Powell and the Colorado River.  This road is a difficult drive even for today’s high clearance, 4-wheel drive vehicles but try to imagine what it may have been like to traverse such difficult land in 1879.  Some 236 Mormon Pioneers decided to explore the possibilities in order to settle the Southeast corner of Utah.

 

The Mormons noticed this crack in the sandstone that gave them hope for a passage to the other side of the Colorado River.

 

They piled up log, rocks, dirt and other debris to form a makeshift road in this section.  Using ropes, they slowly lowered their wagons to what was then, the Colorado River.