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Our time in Canyonlands has come to an end and we had to move along. But before we left, we just had to try the Shafer Trail. Judging by the sign, the Park Service only ‘recommends’ a high clearance 4WD vehicle for the 45 miles back to Moab. To get on the White Rim however, a 4WD with at least 8 inches of clearance is required, along with a permit.
Based on experience with Mineral Bottom Road, we learned that the roads are well-maintained. The challenge is what to do if you meet someone coming the other way? While the Shafer Trail was about “one and a half” lanes wide for the most part, there were some tight sections. And I really didn’t want to pull to the exposed side of the road or back up half a mile to let someone pass. So we picked early Tuesday morning, hoping we’d have it to ourselves on the way down.
Not a cinematographer…
Before we started down, I hung my iPhone from the sun visor and just let it roll. Afterwards I tried to clean up the video with some of the iMovie tools and shorten the overall length by speeding up the video or cutting the (really) terrible parts out. It’s still rough, there’s no audio, and it’s jiggly. But maybe the 5 minute video will give you an idea of this cool trail.
One reason there’s no audio is that I don’t think either one of us said a single word all the way down, hahaha! The pucker factor was pretty high and we we’re hugging the wall! But it was a fine time.
Just click on the picture of the trail, a new tab should open and the Google video should play.
The Shafer Trail was actually built by the Atomic Energy Commission to evaluate uranium ore found in the canyon. The ore was low-grade and the mines were eventually abandoned.
The White Rim Trail
Once you follow the Shafer Trail for about 5 miles, you get to a trail junction below the rim (around 1400 feet down, but not nearly at the bottom). Bearing left takes you out of the park and puts you on Potash Road which eventually connects to the highway going to Moab. Bearing right puts you on the White Rim road, which rides this lower rim above both the Colorado and Green rivers for some 80 miles before connecting to the Mineral Bottom road we checked out the other day. These are the only two access points to the White Rim road, and altogether make a nearly 100 mile backcountry road trip.
Only street-legal 4WD vehicles are allowed, with the exception of mountain bikes. 4WD trips take two to three days, mountain bikes three to four days. Mountain bikers may be required to have a support 4WD to make sure they have enough water for the trip. The Park gives out 50 day passes a day, 25 for vehicles, 25 for bikes.
You’ll notice that the mountain bikers are not much slower than the vehicles! While the road is not real technical, it is pretty rough in spots and you won’t be going very fast.
Since we only had a day pass and my shiny new truck didn’t have a winch or any of that overlanding gear (recovery traction boards, shovel, etc.), we only did a few miles along the trail, stopping at Gooseneck Overlook and driving past Musselman Arch for a little ways before turning around.
Once again, it’s impossible to convey the beauty of the place in pictures. If you click on Patricia’s picture you’ll be directed to a 30-second pan down the Colorado River that may give you a better idea. It was such a great day too. No wind, nice temperature, cloudless sky.
We provided a little “trail magic” to a man who was doing the entire loop in his outfitted FJ. He had it set up for overlanding pretty nicely and a tent on top. His buddy had dropped out at the last minute and he was doing it solo. But…he forgot is iPhone charge cable! Oh no! Fortunately I had a spare and all was well with the universe.
Potash Road
We made it back to the trail junction with Potash Road without incident. Obviously we thought we were going to be on better road and should be nearly out, right? Boy, were we wrong.
Patricia had mentioned at Gooseneck Overlook how she’d like to see a bighorn sheep, how cool would that be? As it turns out, just shortly after getting on Potash road, we did just that!
Do you remembering me mentioning how this 4WD, high-clearance was ‘recommended?’ I feel like that was a tad misleading! Once you leave the Canyonlands National Park boundary, the ‘road’ was rough. I can’t imagine doing this in a regular car, but once you’re down in the canyon, you don’t really want to go back, right?
| Road Trip Note: As it turns out, this ‘road’ was so rough that I just turned the camera off. It was pretty much just a scraped rock ledge for almost 15 miles! My poor truck! Talk about a trial by fire. I did get a little ‘stuck’ on the side trail to Gooseneck Overlook, I had edged my front wheels up against a ledge and there wasn’t enough traction. I tried enabling the differential lock on the rear but for some reason it wouldn’t engage (as it turns out, you have to hold the button for a couple of seconds, Ford really wants you to make sure this is what you want to do). I estimate we did about 30 miles in first and second gear, this is with a 10-speed transmission! You just couldn’t go any faster. We met a group of jeeps, they weren’t going any faster either. It rattled our bones. The little truck handled it quite well. Patricia thinks I should take it to the dealership and just have them put it on the lift and tighten everything they can hahaha. A good test today. |
Thelma and Louise
Did you know that the Grand Finale in the movie “Thelma and Louise” occurred near Canyonlands? Yep, the scene of the Thunderbird launching into the Grand Canyon actually was filmed at this point on Potash road.
I thought we’d better document it because I doubt that I ever want to drive that miserable piece of road again, hahaha. This could have been an opportunity for “Haden and Louise” to jump a new truck with the windows down! But alas, the old ramp used in the movie was long gone….
Finally! The Highway!
We rounded out the day with yet another gorgeous ride along the Colorado River. The highway began at a take-out point on the Colorado River. You could concievably put-in behind our hotel in Moab and have a nice long float to here! And as I mentioned in our post about Mineral Bottom, this is NOT a put-in point unless you are willing to run Cataract Canyon because there’s not another take-out until you are through it.
The slab wall along the Colorado was covered up with rock climbers! The Native American pictographs were a big treat. So much to explore here! But it’s time to move on. (Click on a picture below for higher resolution.)
