Canyonlands: White Rim Trail 28 years ago

[hatchcanyon]

In 1987 we visited for the first time southeastern Utah, stood on some view points of Island in the Sky. What a panorama!

This was completely new to us Europeans. Ok, we knew the Alps and other parts of Europe and I had worked in Silicon Valley for some time. But Red Rock Country was something different.

Then I saw that road? trail? spur? below us. Looked like a possibility to explore more. How to get down there?

We asked a ranger at the visitors center and he asked what kind of car we had? A Chrysler 5th Avenue. Ok, there is a view point an you may look down and decide if you want drive down this unpaved road. We were told we might be able to go for 5 to 6 miles, walk to the brink of the Colorado River gorge and get some more beautiful views.

We followed the advice.

What we saw was Shafer Trail but we didn't know that name. It did not look very (negatively) impressive. We had traveled worse backroads in the Italian Alps. Lets Go!

(All pictures from scanned slides)

Our rented car with a nice California License Plate

Shafer Trail view

Long road to?

on Shafer Trail

Not far away from Potash Road junction - we didn't know that time - a commercial jeep tour approached toward us. You could see the driver staring at our car and he tried to stop us. No way!

His face said "Look at these crazy people!"

A wonderland of stone

Dead Horse Point

Colorado River

Amazing

The five to six miles were definitely over but the trail didn't look too bad. Ok it was rocky at places and sometimes it needed a careful drive. The 5th Avenue was sturdy with its ladder frame. Let's go on!

My wife and the car

Musselman Arch

Breathtaking for newbies

My wife and the car at Lahtrop Canyon Junction

My first idea was to drive down to the river bank but at first I walked. After 250 feet it came clear this was impossible. Even if I could go down the car would never make it up again! Be realistic! This was the point for returning to pavement and so we did.

But we got infected! Next time we arrived in Moab with a Chevrolet Blazer (1991 make)

 

[Big50]

Awesome photos! Reminds me of seeing a lady in a rental Chevy Cruze making her way out to the racetrack in Death Valley. She looked like she was hating life. But that road has some much rougher and rockier sections than in your photos.

Thanks for sharing.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[hatchcanyon]

White Rim is not that bad from top of Island in the Sky to Lathrop Canyon except one stretch on the way back. There is a longer grade with more or less deep ruts.

 

[ab1985]

Very cool. Thanks for sharing!

 

[gwittman]

My first trip time around the White Rim Trail was around 1980. It is amazing how different it was then. My wife and I spent more than two days exploring it and only came across one other vehicle while there. No reservations were required and you could camp pretty much where ever you wanted.

My vehicle was a little better suited for that trip than a Chrysler 5th Ave. Our 73 FJ55 Landcruiser did a good job of getting us all the way to the CO river. We did encounter a problem while taking a break for lunch when a bunch of water falls started flowing from the high rocks around us. Then we realized the stream bed we came down in was also flowing with about two feet of water. Apparently, there was a down pour upstream which caused a flash flood. Fortunately, we were still high and dry in the sunshine but we had no way out. We enjoyed the show for an hour or so and when the water got down to about a foot, we headed up stream. I was always on the look out for an escape from the stream bed in case a wall of water came flushing down. No problems and Mother Nature provide an exciting experience.

 

[LandCruiserPhil]

Rental cars are MUCH more capable than the average person realizes and ride better on washboard roads than almost any 4WD.

Excellent post thanks for sharing

 

[1leglance]

really great quality pics and thanks for scanning the slides so we can share them
I love that you did it in a rental car, even if I would also have been looking at you thinking "crazy people" at that time

looking forward to hearing more about your travels, thanks again

 

[hatchcanyon]

Thanks for all these nice comments.

We have done White Rim completely this year in June. Call it a commemoration. Was much easier with a Jeep Wrangler, but you really don't need something like a Wrangler on this road.

This time we did it the other way round - counterclockwise! We only have seen a group of 4 with Rovers and something Japanese. They had some trouble with one of these Rovers but told us they don't need help.

 

[jwilliams]

That is awesome! My wife and I just did this trail after Overland ExpoWest this year.