Moab, UT, Canyonlands NP - Shafer Trail - 2025

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Our fourth day in Moab we decided to do some off roading starting with the Shafer Trail. The Safer trail is a well known unpaved road in the Island in the Sky district of Canyonlands that descends 1,500 feet through colorful, massive sandstone cliffs. It's a challenging drive requiring a high-clearance 4x4 vehicle. The trails function changed through the years; from a route made by Native Americans to access resources on the mesa top, to a trail for sheep herders moving flocks to better foraging in winter time and then a road for trucks moving loads of uranium from the backcountry to marketed. Today, the Shafer Trail is a recreational backcountry road for users seeking the experience of a lifetime, for us driving this trail was a blast. 










From the Shafer Trail we drove 19.6 miles on Potash road to take us back to Hwy 191 that took us back into Moab. Most of the road was unpaved, sometimes bumpy, in parts hugged the Colorado River. We also got to see the Moab Salt mine where potash is mined.






Potash mining fields



La Sal Mountains in the distance. The day we hiked in Arches and got down just before it started to rain, these mountains got snow.



After Potash Road we turned on Hwy 279 and and got to see many panels of petroglyphs/rock art.




Continuing on Hwy 279, we saw Jug Handle Arch






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