The Shafer Trail
Posted on September 21, 2009 by James McGillis | Comments
From Potash to Canyonlands National Park 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, upslope
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, there are
breath-taking views of the
Colorado River Gorge.
Prior to reaching the
highpoint 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 lifecycle. 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 lifecycle. 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,
John Lloyd "Sog" Shafer 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”.
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James McGillis