Potash Road and Shafer Trail

 

Potash Road and Shafer Trail

In May, we visited Moab, UT, and had fun off-roading, Jeep style!  On our first day out on the “off” road, we took a trail we’d been down many times – it’s a favorite!!

As we drove down the main highway to get to Potash Road, I looked at the red rock bluffs and wondered how many people would look at these towering rock formations and not realize what fun lay behind them!!  So many adventures!

The start of Potash Road is very smooth.  The Colorado River is on our left, and sheet rock walls on our right.  There is a stretch of the road, about a mile in length, that is prime rock climbing territory!  Although you can’t see it in the photo on the left, there are several cars parked along this stretch of the road and people are in various stages of preparing for or climbing up and down the wall.  I can safely say this isn’t an activity Jeff and I will ever try!!

We had never been in Moab this early in the season, and one of the very pleasant surprises was how green the landscape was!!  I especially loved the red rocks in contrast to the greenery on the ground.  A different flavor of traditional Christmas colors!

Since we’d been down this trail many times, I did look for some different perspectives of sights that are now familiar to us.  This view of the Colorado River, up high on the red rock bluffs, was taken in a place where only a sliver of the river can be seen between the rocks.  It wasn’t a place I could ever remember being and the view felt like a secret pleasure.

It seemed like almost everywhere we drove, there were spring blooms – this was a vibrant red bloom.  It reminds me of a bloom I saw once called a bottle brush bloom – perhaps this is a variation that bloom, as the original bottle brush I saw was down in Australia or New Zealand!!

We turned the corner and came across a sight I never grow tired of – the Shafer Trail!  This road looks like it will run right into the sheer rock walls – and it does…sort of.  Instead of stopping, though, we will drive up that sheer wall!

How will we make that climb?  Switchbacks!!  Here are a couple of views I took looking down as we climbed up the wall – and how the trail looked in our GPS!!  Pretty twisty!!

And, here are the views from the top!  By the way, at this point, we’ve entered Canyonlands National Park, via a back route, so to speak!!  Here are a couple of views from the top, including one looking out over the off-roads, Moab and to the La-Sal Mountains beyond Moab.  This is also the first time we’ve seen the La-Sal Mountains with snow caps.

I’ll leave you with some different forms of beauty, all in this one image – green among the red rocks, the dramatic beauty of dead trees, still standing, wonderful open canyons and the mountains in the distance.  Choose your favorite or just enjoy them all!

Enjoy!