Potash Road — Moab Rim to Colorado River Canyon via Evaporite Flats

Utah 279 turns to dirt past the Potash plant and that’s where this road earns its place in any Moab-area trip plan. The Colorado River presses hard against Wingate sandstone cliffs on your left, and the road runs right along the bank — close enough that flood debris still marks the high-water lines on the rock faces. Before you hit the ponds, pull over at the signed pullouts: there are Fremont petroglyphs pecked into the canyon walls and actual Cretaceous dinosaur tracks embedded in the sandstone bench above the waterline. The evaporation ponds themselves — bright turquoise from the mineral treatment process — look alien against the red desert, and the road eventually terminates at the Shafer Trail junction, which climbs the canyon rim hard and fast.

The lower section of Potash Road is accessible to most high-clearance vehicles and even passenger cars in dry conditions, making it approachable — but the connection to Shafer Trail up the rim is a different animal entirely. Steep, loose, and exposed, that section wants a capable 4WD with lockers and a driver who’s done it before. Spring and fall are ideal; summer heat in the canyon is serious and shade is nonexistent. No permit required for Potash Road itself. Water, fuel, and food all need to be sorted in Moab before departure. What you get is one of the most visually concentrated canyon drives in the American Southwest.