Can you believe that Becca and I actually considered staying in a hotel when we were in Moab? Sure, it was August and daytime highs were nearly 100 degrees, but we decided that while in the neighborhood, we couldn’t pass up a chance to camp in the backcountry of Canyonlands National Park.
I’d traveled the full White Rim trail in Canyonlands 2 years prior, but with only 2 full days in Moab this past summer and no second vehicle it wasn’t sensible to drive the whole 100-mile route. Not wanting to abandon the prospect of getting into the Canyonlands backcountry, Becca and I called up the Moab ranger station and asked about available campsites. By a stroke of luck, we were able to snag the “Shafer” campsite on the White Rim Trail, which is only a couple of miles away from the main park road, but plenty “out there”.
After swinging by the ranger station to grab our permit (you need a permit for the backcountry sites on NPS land). We headed out to the White Rim via Potash Road, which runs past an operational salt mine.
The Shafer site itself was breathtaking – we counted at least a half-dozen arches within eyesight of the spot and had a great vantage point for the sunset. We were relieved as the temperatures dropped to a comfortable-for-camping 70 degrees.
After a starry evening in the park complete with a gourmet grilled-cheese dinner at camp, we got our stuff packed up nice and early in the AM before getting completely cooked in the OzTent by the August desert sun. We got up to the main park road via the famed “Shafer Switchbacks” which zig-zag up a sheer canyon wall. The views were breathtaking from the top.
We’ll never forget this campsite and the great desert evening in Canyonlands – I shudder to think we almost missed out on this by staying in a hotel because it would be “too hot for camping”.
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