Hstorical trail that retraces the route taken in 1879 by a party of 230 Mormons, 83 wagons, and 1,000 cattle, who were sent out to build a settlement on the San Juan River. They went through quite an ordeal when after 53 miles they reached the top of a cliff, with a narrow and steep crevice lending at a 45 degree angle down to what is now the Escalante Arm of Lake Powell 2,000 feet below. The pioneers spent the entire winter working on the crack, slowly enlarging the opening with only pick axes, shovels, and small supplies of blasting powder. Finally, on January 26, 1880, the expedition slowly made its way down the precarious “road” where a ferry had been built to get them across to the eastern side of the Colorado River where there was a route for them to continue on.