Potash Road

Great scenery combined with a little film history and potash evaporation ponds - what more could you want in a 4x4 trail?! This is another fun back road route up from Moab to Canyonlands NP or Dead Horse SP. Plus old movie buffs will recognize the wide portion of the trail where the movie Thelma and Louise filmed it’s last scene. A fun easy trail that was definitely easier and smoother than the 3 rating it currently has (but there are a few parts that could be impassable or very difficult in wet weather).

Started on the Shafer trail and ended up taking this one all the way to Moab. Defiantly a fun trip. Glad this was my first "real" offroading experience.

Did Potash coming out of White Rim on 10/27/22. This was honestly harder than any part of the White Rim in my opinion, but still not killer. Very pretty views of the Colorado in several places, even got to see a GMC Canyon advertisement being shot. It was a pretty busy trail but it's also pretty wide so shouldn't pose too much of an issue

This was another great trail with some amazing views and scenery all the way through. We ran Shafer Trail down to this one to end our visit to Moab. The rains have eroded it the trail in some places but it is nothing too bad. Be sure to stop at Thelma & Louise Point, the views are awesome. Balanced Rock is also pretty cool to check out. Highly recommend this trail.

Great trail with amazing views. Due to recent rain there are a few rutted sections when coming from the east. Luckily they weed out a lot of the tourist traffic.

A really fun and dazzlingly beautiful road. Every turn and every hill brings new enchanting views.

Recent rains have created more erosion issues. AWD or 4WD is recommended.

Nice side trip outside Moab. The potash ponds were interesting to check out up close

A fantastic ride, especially combined with the Shafer trail heading into Canyonland National Park. Mostly packed dirt and gravel, but some bumpy/rock parts and washouts from recent rains that make high clearance and 4WD essential. Not a technical drive though. Great views of the river.

Drove Potash Road as part of a loop up Long Canyon, down Shafer Trail and then continuing on down Potash Road back to Moab. It's a great trail with a couple of rough spots but nothing too tough. The views are absolutely amazing and there's nothing like being on the middle plateau between Islands in the Sky above and the Colorado River below. There are endless places to pull off to take a break and just soak up the scenery. You'll also get away from the crowds. We were there on Memorial Day weekend and once we dropped below the rim coming down the Shafer Trail the herd thinned tremendously. Once we hit Potash Road we probably saw less than a dozen vehicles whereas the main road into Canyonlands was backed up for over a mile.

Ran this trail as a sunset run when we got into Moab. Nice easy trail that takes you to the top to see the sunset in the west (unfortunately no sunset today as it was cloudy). Still a good run to the top and start to a long weekend.

Love doing this trail to get into the national park or to start the White Rim Trail which I highly recommend. Its fun, easy and ridiculously fun in my opinion on a motorcycle and in a truck. Don't forget to stop at the CO river overlooks. Lastly, you have to go up and down Shafer at the end. Going up and down provides 2 very different views and experiences.

Great drive today. We departed from the Moab side headed towards Canyonlands and really enjoyed the trip. Not to many vehicles with most coming from Canyonlands. Roads are in great shape with little dust, likely due to the rain last night. No issues on the drive and it's fine for all high clearance vehicles. We did not need 4wd anywhere.

Scenic and fun alternative route to get into Canyonlands NP. Straight forward with the occasional washout and rough rocky section. The narrow section towards the end will get your heart pumping if you're not keen on heights. Wonderful ride overall.

Fun trail. Grading is underway and seems fairly complete from the stop sign (coming from Moab) as you approach the private Intrepid Potash roads all the way to the potash ponds. Still a lot of bumps and slow going in some areas but there is not a noticeable obstacle near balanced rock as mentioned earlier. Grading was active today in the area and some portions clearer than others so it may continue Amazing views of the Colorado and deeper canyon than those available above. Shafer was still closed going into the NP so this was an out and back today. The switch backs into Canyonlands are temporarily closed due to remaining ice near the top.

The trail has changed a lot since our last visit two years ago. Traveling from the Moab side, all the way to the kiosk has gotten washed out and particularly rough and rocky. At mile three there is an obstacle that requires 4Low and some finesse and a spotter. If you mess up, it’s a 50 drop on drivers side😬. Once past the kiosk it’s still rocky but in great shape. Still a beautiful drive and loads of fun.

Great scenery and views of the river down below the park. NOTE: lower sections after slit from white rim is showing lots of wash and wear. Do know that this is usually an easy trail, however current wear on the road and wash outs has made the road rougher in places. Might be able to do most of it currently in a 2wd, but check with rangers at the top or BLM as they are even saying it is very washed out at the moment.

this was bumpier and trickier than i expected. lots of use and previous wet conditions likely contributed to that. the two trickiest parts are documented well in previous reviews. we used our trailhawk's 4wd-low and rear locker on one pitch which made it pretty easy work. of course, right after we went up, a minivan went down that part without any issues so maybe it wasn't as bad as it looked lol. also came across several campervans along the way. unique and absolutely beautiful scenery along the way (apart from the mines, of course). if you do it, the people looking down on you from deadhorse point will be so jealous.

The other reviews capture the technical aspects of this trail well. What this route is really about is the landscape, the feeling that you’re seeing Earth as it once was, as it should be, at its very and often improbable best. For us that’s enough reason to run this trail. Note that a few miles of the trail, through the odd potash-mining area, is private property but trespassing is very much allowed (so long as you stay on the trail).

Potash Road continues from Shafer Trail (assuming you run it from top to bottom) and has some amazing views. The majority of the trail is at the bottom of a canyon and can be seen from above at Dead Horse Point State Park. It gives you some great close views of the horseshoe bend and other scenic points like Thelma & Louise dropoff. I would rate this trail as a 3 due to 2 sections in particular: in the middle of the trail there's a fairly steep rock climb that gave a few of our vehicles some difficulty (though it was not much trouble for most). And near the end after the evaporation ponds there are some steep rutted downhill sections that can cause a severe dropoff and will get a few one or two wheels in the air if you don't have much flex.

Drove from east to west on our way into Canyonlands NP. I think the road is rougher than described here, like it hasn't been maintained. Very rocky throughout, and one short but steep hill is eroded to the point of needing high clearance. The scenery is beautiful and worth the drive, especially at the gooseneck, and it's a lot more fun than waiting in traffic to get into Canyonlands (but definitely not faster). Shafer Trail inside the park boundary is much better maintained.

Nice trail that is an easy run if you don't have much time. A stock Jeep Gladiator that's loaded for camping was easily able to do this trail. There is a great view of the Colorado River and fun rock formations. Overall it was a fun trail.

Interesting rock formations and wonderful views. The road is rough and rocky enough in places, and muddy when wet, that I would not take a passenger vehicle with street tires. Easy and relaxing drive; one of my favorites.

Great trail for seeing parts of the park that you can't get to by paved road. Real easy trail and able to likely do in 2 wheel drive if that is all you had. Had a bit of snow on the trail but nothing that would cause concern.

Easy because it was dry. But I believe if it’s snowing or muddy I would skip. I started from Shafer Trail. Fortunately I ‘survived’ the trail.

Did the drive coming from the Canyonlands side. Easy trail with some really amazing views at spots. Not technical and easily accessible. Would highly recommend for all without much experience or a decked out car.

We started at the mines and drove into canyon lands. The weather was very low hanging clouds which made the views interesting. Most of the snow was gone with a few muddy areas. Just a nice easy fun drive. Saw quite a few big horn sheep along the way.

Fun, suitable for stock high clearance vehicle. Low range helps in a couple spots. There was some snow in the shadowy parts on the far eastern side before hitting the White Rim.

This incredible trail finished our loop of the area. After coming down Shafer you have to go out through Potash so you can see the views of the Colorado River. The trail is easy all the way and can be completed by stock high clearance vehicles. We saw a few full size rentals along the route.

Beautiful country and very easy trail to get to it, 2 wheel drive could easily navigate this trail.

We took Potash Road out on our way towards Moab after doing Shafer Road, part of White Rim and Lathrop Canyon. I had seen the ponds on Google Maps and was excited to see the blues against the red rock and sand. It was the perfect way to end my favourite day of wheeling on the way to Overland Expo. The Unimog we saw was also interesting, the first I had ever seen. A few movies have been filmed along this road including the ending of Thelma & Louise and in Mission Impossible 2 in the opening rock climbing scene.

I would give this trail a higher rating if it weren't for the potash mines. Seriously, this trail is like the tale of two worlds... one being amazingly beautiful 5-star type stuff and the other being the post-atomic apocalyptic disaster site.

This trail is a great addition to Shafer trail for a full day of exploring and adventure. This trail is a nice mixture of different scenic views from the red rock canyons and Colorado river to the mines towards the end of the trail.