Hole in the Rock Trail

A Jeep Badge of Honor Trail 
Southeastern Utah

My Adventure 👉 Watch Here

This trail is listed on the National Register of Historic places. It follows the path the Mormon's carved out in the 1800’s, a silent monument to the faith and tenacity of those first Mormon pioneers. 

Don’t confuse this trail with Hole in the Rock Road. This trail is rated a 4 to 6 out of 10. It is a long exhausting trail. There were times we were unsure of the path the trail took. It is not well marked, and in some places not at all. You should definitely have a GPS map. 

The beauty is unmatched anywhere in the US. We made many stops to soak in the vast beauty. Give yourself plenty of time on the trail. I would say at at least 2 nights on the trail and 3 days at a minimum.

I have heard some folks have pushed hard and done it in 12 hours, but that is during times when the days are longer. Plus, knowing the trail gives you a big advantage. 

The trail is one-way in and one way out. It is a long intense trail. You need to be on your A game. Several times on the trail as we traversed up and down the slick rocks. Many times we got out to scout the terrain to find the right path. 

Unfortunately, we did not make it all the way to the end. We still had 1.7 miles left and decided to turn around. That 1.7 miles probably would have taken at least 2 hours there then 2 hours back. We were on a time crunch, plus we didn’t want to chance it with the gas. Bring extra gas!!! I am pretty sure we would have made the whole trip with the gas we had since we trailered our Jeeps into the trail, but we didn’t want to chance it as the area is one of the most remote places in the country. 

Our first night we set up camp on the trail head, one night on the trail, and a
second night at the trailhead again. We were there in October so the day light was limited.

There is a really cool camp spot. A place in the rocks that opens up into an amazing cavern. We spent the night in this cavern with a coyote as we heard him drinking water from some pools of water. This is right after poopy pants hill. A very scary obstacle near Grey Mesa that if you are a millimeter off you go careening down a cavern.

Near the end of the trail, where you turn around and head back, are several rock formations to wheel over and vertical rock faces to climb. There is also The Chute which looks kind of like Hells Gate. Getting down into the chute can be tough but the chute is not that bad. It just looks intimidating.

It was an amazing adventure so I can finish the trail one day.