A very small town that Hwy 191 goes through and was a good place to have full hookups for a couple nights to shower and get our laundry done. We stayed at the Coral Sands RV park. On our way to Moab we had breezed through the town and did not think much of it other than a place to break up our trip back. We were pleasantly surprised when talking to a local merchant at the Cow Canyon Trading Post that the town has a lot of hidden gems to offer and an incredible history of how it was founded in 1880.
One gem we were directed to visit was a canyonwall of petroglyphs at Sand Island. A primitive camping area and boat launch 3 miles from the town where locals discovered hundreds of petroglyphs along a canyon wall. A dedicated team of 5 locals took on the challenge of protecting the area, clearing the brush and debris, then with the help of experts, they mapped the petroglyphs to study and keep track of future erosion. These petroglyphs are stories from inhabitants of the area ranging from AD1150 to AD 1350 with a few more recent ones as well.
Breakfast next day at Comb Ridge across the street was a nice way to start the day. We had the ‘blue corn’ pancake plate which were we were told by our local merchant friend are the best around. They were very good.
After breakfast a visit to the Bluff Fort where we learned of the incredible journey called the “Hole in the Rock Expedition” where a group of 120 missionaries (25 children under 1 year old) from the San Juan Mission (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-daySaints) made a 6 month journey through canyons and inhospitable land to found this town in 1880. The Hole-in-theRock trail is the most preserved wagon road in the West. A short movie details the journey and the fort has replicas of the wagons used in the journey as well a homes they later built in Bluff. We then visited the town cemetery on a bluff above th town where many of the founders names can be seen on the grave markers.
