The Shafer Trail - Continuing to Potash Road - Part Two

After reaching the junction of Shafer Trail/Potash Road or the White Rim Trail; we did continue onto the White Rim Trail, but I'm going to post about that in Part Three of this write up. For now, lets just pretend that we made that left turn and decided to head on out to Moab; we're still in San Juan County and, technically, would not enter Grand County until we passed by the potash collection pools. 


Almost immediately we entered into what we decided to call "Valley of the Hammers", as that is what the formations reminded us of.  At any moment, we expected to see armored dwarves from Mithral Hall (R.A. Salvador reference); from Lord of the Rings fame; or even Thor himself carrying Mjolnir.  Shafer Canyon certainly presented us with pleasant surprises!

 




One sign you will see is about the Bighorn Sheep Lambing Area; unfortunately we didn't see any of these majestic creatures walking the ground areas, or among the rocky ledges.  We did, however, see the Colorado River and the famous "gooseneck" that lies below Dead Horse Point.  By the way, one of these shots is supposed to be of "Thelma and Louise Point", but I can't figure out which one.



The Gooseneck 




Shafer Canyon has a lot more interesting rock formations besides what we called "Valley of the Hammers"; I found not one map nor site that gave names to them, but that's not unusual.  There are so many formations throughout the area, that giving each one a name, well who could keep track!?!

Here's where the road gets a bit interesting, it's one of those riverbeds that we didn't just cross, but had to drive through for a bit before we came to an actual road again.  A couple of times I had to get out, scout out a more level driving area, and direct Roy over it.











Now that storm coming in from the south and west I mentioned in Part One; somehow we kept just missing it; in other words, we didn't get rained on, but saw an amazing lightning show in the distance.  I can never seem to get those lightning shots timed exactly though, so no photos of the show, just memories.

There were more formations of course, the most prominent being "Chimney Rock"; couldn't help but take shots of it as we got closer and closer.  Yes, another formation called "Chimney Rock", but this time in San Juan County, Utah.

We did find an information board at one point which explained about the Shafer Trail, Bighorn Sheep and various dos and don'ts.  Too bad those people we had seen driving cars up from Potash Road didn't stop and bother to read it.  Don't be fooled though, there are still several miles to go before you see pavement again; this ride is not over yet!

The potash collection pools are not too far away; once you get past them, you'll enter into Grand County.  Still a ways to go yet till you reach Potash Road itself; there will be various trails to the left and right, but "no trespassing" signs will keep you going in the correct direction.

Potash Collection Pools

Now Arches National Park has its "Balanced Rock" and so does the Shafer Trail; across from it, a small cave can be seen within the wall.

Once you see these rock formations, you're almost to Potash Road; ahead will be the boat basin and immediately the paved road. Don't be too keen to get off Potash Road quickly; you don't want to miss out seeing Jug Handle Arch, Wall Street (a mecca for "crack" climbers) and several areas of rock art.

We surely lucked out this day; the storm that had gone through dumped enough water onto the cliffs to form a waterfall.

We did it!  We drove the Shafer Trail!  Now this was a special day for us, not just because we drove the trail, but we were celebrating our anniversary too.  We treated ourselves to a most awesome dinner of prime rib and baked sweet potato at The Cowboy Grill at Red Cliffs Lodge; the view from our table did not disappoint.

Part Three will be the next installment of this most excellent adventure...the White Rim Trail.

Mary Cokenour

The Shafer Trail - Canyonlands to White Rim Junction - Part One

Route 313, eleven miles north of Moab, leads you to places that, well simply take your breath away.  Merrimac and Monitor Butte are an eyeful of wonderful.  There is Dead Horse State Park known for its famous "gooseneck", and where the Grand Canyon scene from the movie "Thelma and Louise" was actually filmed. Then there is Canyonlands National Park - Islands in the Sky", and it is absolutely one of the most gorgeous areas to visit. Part of Islands is the overlook of Shafer Canyon and the Shafer Trail; but you can also drive the Shafer Trail to either Potash Road (Route 279), slightly north of Moab; or venture deeper into the canyons via the White Rim Trail.

Merrimac and Monitor Butte

This is going to be a three part write up; Part One - the start in Canyonlands to the Potash Road/White Rim Trail junction; Part Two will be from the junction to Potash Road; Part Three will be the White Rim Trail up to Musselman Arch.

Lets go with a little warning first; 4 wheel drive is a must!  While the road from Canyonlands to the junction is well maintained; afterwards, yeah, not so much.  There are rocks, rutted spots, pieces of missing road, and a riverbed or two you need to drive on, not cross, but into and along until you reach a trail again.  We did see a couple of cars start from the other entrance via Potash Road and wished them a lot of luck; I bet the owners were driving rentals, or had really good auto mechanics.  By the way, it even states on the information boards that 4 wheel drive is a must; so I'm not making this all up to scare you off.  What visitors to Grand and San Juan Counties don't understand, or want to understand I feel sometimes, is that the roads were made around the landscape; the landscape was not changed to make the roads convenient.


History of Shafer Trail from Information Board

Alright then, after showing our annual park passes at the guardhouse, a quick rest stop at the Visitors Center, and onto the Shafer Trail we drove.  When you get that first sight of the vista ahead of you; stopping and staring is a given.  The day we did this adventure, a storm was moving in from the southwest; funny, when we did Canyonlands for the first time last year, a storm from the southwest was coming in.  Anyway...

For the most part, the road is smooth dirt and wide for two vehicles to pass each other; there are pull in spots when the road narrows to allow one vehicle to go, while the other waits.  Basically being polite and patient when other vehicles are around will make for a safer and happier ride; really folks, leave the road hogging/raging at home.  We knew this was going to be an all day adventure, so took our time to explore our surroundings.




Halogeton (Goosefoot family)

Waves carved into walls by wind and water.

Now Roy and I usually take picnics with us when it's an all day trip; this time we were in the mood for Burger King...it happens, get over it!  Being the characters that we are, we decided to take a photo of our hands holding our sandwiches with Shafer Canyon as our backdrop.  I did send the photo to the Burger King head office, but still have not heard from them; most probably won't.  There is a large pull in area at this curve in the road, so plenty of room to picnic and enjoy the outstanding view.




















We could see the overlook up above us, so knew what was in store once we began driving again.  See, when you first begin traveling the Shafer Trail, you don't feel as if you're traveling downward very much until you turn a corner and see how far below the walls you are.  As you pass under the overlook though, there is no doubting you're going down, down, down...to Goblin Town; well not really.  Lovers of the movie, "Labyrinth" will get the reference.  I don't know about you, but I love the descents; that's when my adrenaline really gets pumping!

Before you know it, you're at the bottom, looking back up, and saying, "Holy sh*t, I can't believe we just did that!!!" 

Then you look ahead and wonder about what's next.



Looking towards the White Rim Trail

Shafer Trail to Potash Road, Moab

The junction; straight ahead takes us down the White Rim Trail; to the left, the Shafer Trail continues until it reaches Potash Road, Moab.


One last look at where we had come from before moving onward.

Part Two will be the Shafer Trail to Potash Road; but that's not exactly what we did.  We did a portion of the White Rim Trail, but I'm going to make you wait for that.  Yes, I can be evil, very evil.  Muhahahaha.

Mary Cokenour