Exploring and Documenting the Hole-in-the-Rock Trail Lynn Lyman
My experience with the Hole-in-the-Rock Trail started in 1940 when a trip was planned by horseback from Bluff to the Hole-in-the-Rock. We had 82 people and 143 animals — pack animals and riding horses. Charlie Redd was chairman of the committee to make the arrangements. We had several meetings together. Finally in September we met at the Natural Bridges, camped there that night, and began our trek the next morning. Of the 82 people, two had been with the original party of pioneers. They were Aunt Caroline Redd from Blanding and Charlie Walton from Monticello. Aunt Caroline was six years old when she came through the Hole-in-the-Rock. My father was on the original trip too. He was sixteen years old then, but he did not come with us on the pack trip. We were ten days on the trip. It rained almost every day. We were divided into groups, about eight to ten people in each, who would camp together. At Greenwater it rained and rained. Some of the people camped in the cliff dwelling. This one group — I think it was Charlie Redd's group — pitched camp right in the little draw where the water would come through, and in the middle of the night there was a wild scramble of women and people coming out of that tent seeking a dry place. But the rain made it more interesting and served a good purpose. It filled the water holes — the pot holes in the rocks — settled the dust, cooled the air, and made things really quite pleasant. 117
