Impossible Canyons

In the autumn of 1776 two Franciscan priests, Domínguez and Escalante, came through this canyon country starving and desperate for a way across the Colorado before winter closed in. On October 26 they reached the cliffs near here. Two of their men swam the frigid river naked and lost their clothes to the current; a log raft failed three times. Only after days did the party find a ford upstream, the crossing later drowned by Lake Powell. They were the first Europeans known to see this ground.

What the plaque says

In desperate search for a crossing of the Colorado River before the wild storms of winter might further weaken their starving bodies, Fathers Dominguez and Escalante led their expedition past this point on October 26, 1776., Five days were spent near the present site of Lee's Ferry, four miles to the east. Two young expeditionaries swam naked across the frigid river. Barefoot and cold, their bundled clothing having swept away in the struggle for their lives, the swimmers returned without exploring the impossible canyons on the other side. Another attempt to cross on a log raft failed three times in the powerful current., With only the meat of one of their horses for sustenance, the padres finally picked their way along a treacherous route above the Paria River and through a notch in the Echo Cliffs which Escalante himself described as impassable. On November 7, the expedition jubilantly forded the river at the "Crossing of the Fathers" now under the waters of Lake Powell., These first Europeans known to have seen this dramatic canyon country returned to Santa Fe, their point of departure, in January 1777. They had failed their objective to find and overland route to the settlement at Monterey. But their experience and detailed records expanded knowledge of the remote land on the fringes of Spanish territory known today as the Four Corners Region.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Antelope Canyon — 15 mi
  Tsé bighánílíní — where the water runs through the rock

More markers nearby

• Marble Canyon Lodge — 0.3 mi
• Lafe McDaniel — 0.4 mi
• Navajo Bridge — 0.4 mi
• John Deering — 0.5 mi