La Sal Mountains

We drove the Jeep around the trails up here at dusk last night. The leaves were starting to fall and the later afternoon sunlight glinting through the trees. We actually got some decent altitude too - I think around 11,000 ft. Beautiful, I'll come up here every time I'm in the area.

The contrast of the Lasals over the red desert of Moab makes them an incredible sight. Only a short 20-30 minute drive from Moab proper, the Lasals keeps snow almost all year and is a great place to go for tobogganing in the winter and hiking year round. A nice place to cool off from the desert heat!

Forgot to add my stars

Adding the La Sal Mountains to our roadtrip thru Moab on July 9th was a great choice for the adventure and views, but beware it can be difficult. The Roadtrippers map shows it as a loop around the mountains (but really up and over). We took it clockwise, starting up the mountain from just south of Moab. We did leave the trailer at our RV camp, which was a good thing. Only the first part of the drive would be accessible for a travel trailer, with a few boon-docking sites as you go up. The views to the west and northwest are fantastic and the temperature was eventually down to 80s from 100s on the valley floor.
Nearing what we thought was the top we encountered a sort of Y in the road. The left continued the La Sal road around to the north and (we assume) back down to the Colorado River east of Moab. We didn’t take that route so I can’t comment, but I would bet it is the easier route and possibly what the description is referring to.
We took the right, a road called Geyser Pass, as that’s what the Roadtrippers map route looked like. Well, it was a good thing we have high clearance and a 4-wheel drive. The drive was awesome, and mostly well graded, but a lot of switchbacks and narrow roads. At a few places, we had to go thru mud from melting snows, and even one place where there was still about 18 inches of snow on the road. There were tracks already but I would not have wanted to try it in a car. The mountain peaks are spectacular. The temperatures were low 70s.
Coming out on the south side to highway 46 feels like coming back into rustic civilization. There are logging roads (and trucks I assume on weekdays) and a number of ranches.
All in all, I’m glad we did it, but wish there were more reviews to tell us what we were getting into. Hence, this.
PS, for those who read Louis Lamour, there are a few books about Tell Sackett in the La Sal Mountains in summer and winter. This brought it quite to life.