'Hole in the Rock' pioneers remembered

"This is Bluff"
This is also how dusty the back of our car was after we arrived in Bluff on Saturday morning.

Our packed car

My entire family got to vacation in southern Utah over Memorial Day weekend. There was a Hobbs family reunion in Bluff, Utah. We had a bunch of cousins there we don't get to see too often because Grandpa George Lloyd Hobbs is relatively far up the family tree; there are a lot of his descendants now.

The reason we met in Bluff lies in its history: G.L. Hobbs was the son of George Brigham Hobbs, who helped establish Bluff, Utah. By way of further explanation,

"In 1879-80, Mormon pioneers built a wagon road between established communities in southwestern Utah and the Four Corners area. They were fulfilling an assignment from their church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, to establish a settlement in the area. Their journey turned into an ordeal of unparalleled difficulty as they blazed a route across some of the most broken and rugged terrain in North America. Upon their arrival in the San Juan area in April 1880, they established a small community called Bluff. Their first dwellings were one-room log cabins. The cabins were arranged to form a large square [and have in part been recreated as part of the Historic Bluff Fort in Bluff, Utah.] Annually, over twenty thousand visitors are gaining a glimpse of life on the San Juan frontier thanks to donations and the efforts of numerous volunteers." -the Hole-in-the-Rock Foundation homepage

The Monticello LDS Temple

(If any of you plan to visit soon, call me and I'll tell you everything you need to know about this super small temple. Things I learned the hard way...)

Historic Bluff Fort

Inside the Hobbs siblings' cabin- built to represent three of the Hobbs siblings involved in the San Juan Mission. After helping the pioneers get to their destination, G.B. Hobbs brought them supplies until they could get established. Although he never lived in Bluff, he had two sisters who lived in that area.
(Tyler, Mel, Graig and Mom helped build it two summers ago with some of our cousins)

On a plaque commemorating the San Juan pioneers: G.B. Hobbs was one of four forward scouts who explored the land in front of the wagon train to find the best (or, in some cases, only) travel route from Cedar City to Bluff. The asterisk following his name means he was a member of the original "Hole-in-the-Rock" group called to settle the Bluff area in 1879.

(Great-) Uncle Graig tells a small group of cousins a story about this well during his guided tour of the fort.

(Great-) Uncle Grant tells the tour about this cabin. He and Uncle Graig took turns telling the stories.

Four-wheeling:

A victorious descent down the worst hill of the trip!

At the Anasazi ruins; we also stopped at San Juan Hill, which the pioneers had to cross on their way to Bluff. The slope is so steep they had to use seven teams of horses to pull each wagon.

Mom was the only one who didn't come with us. (There weren't enough helmets to go around and she did the trip last time she was in Bluff anyway)

Other sightseeing:

Overlooking the "Goosenecks" of the San Juan River on a very windy day.

The Goosenecks

The San Juan pioneers had a lot of natural barriers to cross on their way to settle Bluff.

Melanie and our cousin Myla, back at the fort. I think Mel has a grumpy face because we were about to leave to go home.

At my request, we stopped at Newspaper Rock just north of Monticello on our way home. I took a lot of pictures. ;)

This arch was labeled as "Looking Glass Rock" on our map. After stopping at Newspaper Rock, we decided we could take another detour to check it out. We were delighted to discover the "rock" was actually a pretty cool natural arch!

This is what's on the other side of the arch. Graig is rescuing Dad's sunglasses, which fell when Dad accidentally dropped them from the mouth of the arch.