The Best View of Moab? Take Potash Road to Canyonlands, on the Shafer Trail
Where the pavement ends in Potash, Utah, so too does the Potash Road (Utah Route 279). There, a
gravel and dirt road continues up and around the potash settling ponds.
Beginning at that point, a hodgepodge of county, federal and social
names prevail along various segments of the road. The two most popular
names associated with the upper reaches of that track are, “South Fork
Road” and the “Shafer Trail”. Before proposing our candidate for the
official road name, we shall describe both its dangers and its beauty.
Starting at the Intrepid Potash, LLC settling ponds
in Shafer Basin, the road takes a meandering course, up-slope past
hoodoos, towers and buttes. As we drove the track, it roughly paralleled
the flow of the Colorado River. As we climbed, the river descended
until there was a 2000-foot difference in elevation between the river
and our location atop the sandstone canyon rim. Along this section, are
the best views of the Colorado River Gorge.
Prior to reaching the
high point above the gorge, we came upon a large, shallow pothole.
Dependent for their existence on rainfall and local runoff, wet and dry potholes dot the Canyonlands landscape.
After a summer shower, they shine like so many silver coins in the
sunlight. Each pool of retained water has its own unique life-cycle.
Some support ancient aquatic life forms, while others are drinking water
sources for wild horses or other mammals. In any given pool, a wide
variety of insects and other organisms might sustain themselves through
their entire life-cycle. Although our selected pothole was within yards
of the main track, no wheel marks had disturbed or desecrated its
pristine beauty.
Near the highest point
along the Colorado River Gorge, Thelma & Louise met their fate in
the 1991 movie by the same name. For us, a close approach to the
unmarked and unguarded canyon rim made our heart skip a beat.
Having previously stood at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon,
we knew its depth to be about one mile. There, the scene is one of
grandeur. Although at least fifty-three individuals fell to their death
there over the past eighty years, most landed on various ledges, not
more than five hundred feet below their point of departure. Although the
Colorado Gorge is only two-fifths as deep, there are no intermediate
ledges or outcroppings to break one’s fall. Unless it has wings,
whatever goes over the edge here will not stop until it strikes the
surface of the Colorado River. As we stood close to the rim here, our
predominant feeling was one of queasiness.
Mistaking our truck’s
accelerator for the brake pedal at his spot would set in motion a slow
motion disaster. After going over the edge, brakes and steering would no
longer matter. The mass of our body and the pickup truck surrounding it
would feel weightless for the ten seconds it took to reach the bottom.
There, the freefall would end abruptly at the surface of the Colorado
River. Since water is quite unyielding when impacted at high speeds, it
might as well be solid concrete. Knowing that such was the fate of
characters Thelma & Louise, we stepped carefully back from our
closest vantage point, about eight feet from the brink. After a deep
breath or two, we were ready to go back to the truck and motor slowly up
the trail.
To our way of thinking,
the best natural light in the desert appears near sunup or sundown.
Having taken our time along the way, we took our final look
back towards the river at almost 7:00 PM. Looking forward and upward,
we noted a small wooden sign, which marked our entrance into Canyonlands National Park.
Watch the Video, "Mudflaps & Helicopters"
Shifting our Nissan Titan V-8
into four-wheel drive, we traveled up a long, otherwise undisturbed
valley. Where that valley abruptly ended, the road began an equally long
upward traverse of a talus slope. After that climb, we looked up at
what seemed to be a sheer cliff. Hidden from our view in the fading
light, was a famous set of switchbacks. Ascending the trail slowly was
the prudent thing to do. Just beyond the top of the switchbacks is a
mesa top, still within Canyonlands National Park.
During various excursions
in Canyonlands, we had experienced a phenomenon that is alien to urban
drivers. Often, we had perceived that a particular road would next turn
in one direction, only to find it turn the other way. While climbing
this set of switchbacks, we often could not determine if the road went
on at all. In the failing light of dusk, the steep canyon wall hid all
the switchbacks above and below us. As we continued our ascent, we
wonder if the spirit of the Ancients might be riding along with us,
having a good laugh about the optical illusions of the trail.
After viewing unique
pillars of stone and other rock tableau, we crested the Mesa top, and
then paused to look back from whence we came. Many miles to the east,
the alpenglow crept up the sides of the La Sal Mountains. Day turned to
night in the canyon below. Near our junction with State Route 313, we stopped at the Canyonlands self-pay box and did our part to support maintenance and upkeep of this unique road.
The stretch of road we
just described starts as Potash, by the Colorado River and ends on the
mesa top in Canyonlands. On many maps, including our 2005 Edition of the
Delorme Utah Atlas & Gazetteer it appears as “South Fork Road”.
Recently, Google Maps began showing both "South Fork Road" and the more
common, "Shafer Trail" along this section of road. According to our
research, “South Fork Road” is a social-road name, not used by any
official agency in the area. When we questioned several Moab local
residents, each said that the road has always been the “Shafer Trail”.
On most locally produced maps, there is no other name associated with
the road, the road.
The track has its origin
in Shafer Basin, adjacent to the potash settling ponds. Just below its
mesa-top crest, stands Shafer Campground. Before extensive grading
allowed its use as a haul-road for uranium ore in the late 1940s, a
local rancher named Shafer used the trail each year to herd cattle from
what we now call Shafer Basin to the mesa top and back again. In the
interest of public safety and standardization among mapmakers, the road
from the Cane Creek Potash Plant, up to Canyonlands National Park,
should bear the name of its originators, and his brother Frank Shafer. Since the track is as much a trail as it is a road, henceforth its name should be, “The Shafer Trail”.
Email James McGillisBy James McGillis at 05:09 PM | | Comments (0) | Link
