UPDATE: Many folks probably haven’t seen this older post …

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UPDATED January 20, 2014: Here’s a jeep trip in 1955 that was undertaken after one of the trip’s members read the below article in National Geographic.

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Originally Posted October 23, 2013: 

This spot is now a couple hundred feet under water. Learn more about the Crossing of the Fathers here: http://www.onlineutah.com/crossinghistory.shtml

In 1949 a joint expedition between the National Geographic Society and New York Explorers Club decided to be the first explorers, by vehicle, to enter the Escalante area of Utah. Accompanying the explorers were two jeeps and, fortunately for us, cameras. Their story, “The First Motor Sortie into Escalante Land”, appeared in the September 1949 issue (pages 169-204).

You can find a variety of inexpensive issues of the September 1949 National Geographic Magazine on eBay. If you are a fan of Southern Utah, this is a neat article.

For the first part of the trip, which began in Cannonville, Utah, the explorers traveled along part of the Cottonwood Road route we drove this past March. Their first big find was the arch we now know as the Grovesnor Arch, which the explorers officially named after the President of the National Geographic Society. What surprised me was that there are pictures showing the group on top of the arch with flags as if they’d conquered the moon. To be fair, I imagine it was a pretty challenging climb.

Note the explorers at the top of the Grosvenor arch.

From there, the party headed south as far as the Colorado River to an area now flooded by Lake Powell. So, some of the areas in the photos are no longer possible to see.

Below are only the photos that include the red and yellow CJ-2As that accompanied the explorers:

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