Editor Pick
La Sal Mountians Loop Drive
- May 2, 2007
- Rated 5 of 5 by
Wasatch from heber ctity, Utah
Most mountain roads have better scenery traveling in one direction than in the other. We have only driven the La Sal Loop once, so I can’t yet say which direction is best. However, the way we went was certainly worth the 60-90 minute trip. We left Moab going north on US 191 and turned right at UT Rt 128, just before the Colorado River bridge. For the first eight miles we drove along the river, with high cliffs of dark red rock marking the boundary of Arches National
Park across the river. After eight miles, we turned right into the Castle Valley, a remarkably green oasis in the red rock desert. To the right, marking the edge of the valley, the long, high red rock cliff top marks the furthest extent of the Slickrock Trail. After a gradual climb up the valley, the road narrowed and began a steep ascent of the mountians.
At this point, road condition deteriorated badly, indicating we had entered Federal land. Most roads on Federal land in the west are in very poor condition because the Republicans in Congress have been strangling the budgets of the National Park Service, the BLM, and the Forest Service since the Reagan years. If you drive a SUV sized vehicle, you had best have nerves of steel to go up this road. RVs ought to be banned, and only a fool would attempt the drive in an RV. Even some compact car drivers may be rattled by the narrow, twisting road with it 1,000 ft. drop-offs
and no guard rails. The climb offered wider and wider views of Castle Valley and then a vast panorama across Arches National Park. Near the pass, there were good views of the snow covered rocky peaks of the La Sals. Once we got high enough, we could easily see the mountain ranges surrounding Canyonlands National Park. To the south, the Blue (Abajo) Mountains, to the west, the Henry Mountains (100 miles), and on the far distant skyline, Boulder Mountain (125 miles) and the Fish Lake Plateau (140 miles).
The La Sal, Henry, and Blue Mountians are volcanic mountians but not volcanos. Geologically, they are eroded lacoliths. For a volcano eruption, hot, liquid rock called magma pushes its way to the surface and then explodes or flows out of the ground. Lacoliths are aborted volcanos. The magma pushed up– to 12,700 ft. in the La Sals– but never broke the surface. The magma (lacolith) carried the sandstone above it upward with it, and then the softer sandstone eroded, leaving behind the harder granite rock of the lacoliths as these small mountain ranges.
The descent into the Spanish (Moab) Valley, with panoramic views across Canyonlands National Park, was also fine scenery.
On May 24, we drove through a little snow on the road, left over from the blizzard the week before.
Afternoon clouds often form over the La Sals, so it best to make this trip as early in the morning as possible, weather permitting.
From journal Rocks, in every shape, size, and color