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4 Takixg 'Yar!tK6tr! fArtJ3A graxd Caxymt, 1JS3 nn the winter of 1952-1953, Harry Aleson organized a hiking trip \./ that would attempt to follow the old wagon road made by rugged Mormon pioneers in the winter of 1879-1880 on their trek from Escalante to the town of Bluff, Utah.I By the time Georgie arrived at Richfield, Utah, on April 10, 1953, all who had signed up for the hike had dropped out except Harry. When asked ifshe wanted to call it off, Georgie replied, "I didn't come from L.A. for nothing."2 They left Richfield in a snowstorm on Saturday, April 11, and traveled for several hours in a Jeep with Dan Manning and Neal Magelby, both of Richfield. Georgie and Harry were dropped off at the top of Hole-In-The-Rock; after a little looking around, Manning and Magelby headed back to Richfield. From this point in 1879,250 Mormon pioneers from the Cedar City and Panguitch areas had blasted and prayed their way across this most isolated, wildly eroded "slickrock" wilderness in the dead ofwinter to settle the town of Bluff, Utah. Here at Hole-In-The-Rock, a narrow slit in the rim of Glen Canyon more than a thousand feet above the Colorado River, Georgie and Harry encountered the first signs of the powder-blasted, hand-built dugway made seventy-three years earlier. Over time, erosion had taken its toll, and the trail was no longer passable even by mules. Mormon pioneers did not make the steps that Georgie and Harry found there; these were carved out later by Robert Brewster Stanton's men of the Hoskaninni Mining Company so that supplies could be carried down to the river by manpower and pack mules.3 45 Georgie and Harry put on their heavy packs for the scramble down the old dugway. Harry's pack was especially heavy at the start because it contained a small inflatable raft in addition to food and bedding . It took the pair an hour and ten minutes to work their way down to the river. They spent the rest of the day exploring an old Indian trail along the river. As it began to get dark they gathered wood for a fire to make supper. There was a wonderful spring of clear water at their campsite. The two were in bed by 9:30 P.M., and Georgie noted, "Stars are bright. No moon. Good fire. Bed fixed. We carry plastic light air mattress, so have fine sleeping arrangement."4 On Sunday morning Harry slept in. Georgie was up early, writing an account of the trip. She finally woke Harry an hour after sunup by splashing cold water in his face. After breakfast Harry showed Georgie how to use his camera. Then they packed their bags, inflated the boat, and took photos before crossing the river. Georgie said, "Boat is very light, round like a tub. Pocket on bottom to hold water & keep from tipping so easy-Life Line-English made for Royal Air Force-first I have seen like it."5 After crossing the river, they deflated the boat and hid it and the oars behind a huge rock, where Harry would pick them up later. This lightened their packs for the climb ahead. Over the next several days they looked for signs of the 1880 pioneer road. Here and there they found sections ofhand-laid rock work. About four miles from the river, a long retaining wall had been built up a steep sand slope to gain the next bench. Then, in a place that would be heart-breaking to less-determined men and women, a steepsloping , rock-work roadbed was built up among pinnacles and ramparts that guarded the higher plateau area. Georgie and Harry climbed this, then lost all traces of the old road where it crossed a wide sand flat. Then, while scanning the countryside from a high knob of Navajo sandstone, they saw traces of hand-laid rock to the north. Picking up the road again, they followed it down steep pitches ofsandstone slopes. They walked across WIlson Mesa in the deeply marked ruts made by wagon wheels so long ago. Hardly a bush had regrown. While traveling the full length of the high mesa, they came across only two signs of other white men having been there since the pioneers. One was a brass cap set there in 1926 by a survey crew ofthe General Land Office, marking a...

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