During National Geographic’s 1949 expedition explorers named this Escalante formation Grosvenor Arch, in honor of the late Gilbert Grosvenor, founder of the National Geographic Society. Photograph by James P. Blair

 

Escalante Links

In our April issue of NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELER, writer Jeff Rennicke leads readers through breathtaking wilderness in Utah’s Escalante National Park. The very first recorded adventure through this land, however, was in a September 1949 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC magazine story. Here, an excerpt:

Several times, while we struggled to hold the car from slipping into some gorge, the vehicle would tip up on two wheels. “The farther you go, the better the road gets,” roared Tom Smith as we rammed full speed into a troublesome embankment. He was beginning to feel we might make it. Then came Padre Creek, which looked impossible to “head,” and I thought we’d have to leave the cars and hike. “Nothing doing,” said driver Hendrix, who handled the jeep like a baby carriage. “We’ll get there.” How we fought the jeep through the last five miles [eight kilometers] is a nightmare none of us wants to remember. I can only recall jumping out several times when it seemed certain the plucky vehicle would roll over into the abyss.

From Jack Breed’s “First Motor Sortie into Escalante Land,” in the September 1949 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC.

(Order this rare issue from our online store.)

—Heather Morgan