La Sal Pass

Ran this trail starting from the eastern trailhead. That side is a nice uphill drive-through the fall foliage of the aspen forest on a fairly smooth road. The two minute side trip to Beaver Lake is worth it for the views during fall foliage with Mount Peele in the background (may require high clearance, or you could just walk). The two minute side trip to medicine lake is not as worth it for views, although there are two large camp sites and a pit toilet there. Including stopping for some photos, it took me about 40 minutes to get to the top of the pass, which is still in the aspens. This side of the trail could probably be rated 1 or 2 in difficulty, and you might be comfortable driving this in a RAV4 or Subaru Forester or similar. The decent to the western trailhead is much slower and bumpier and only for high clearance 4WD vehicles, and is appropriately rated a 4 in difficulty. Parts of the trail are only as wide as a Jeep Wrangler with branches dragging on both sides. Potential pinstripes are unavoidable even for a narrow Jeep. There was a significant obstacle between waypoints 7 and 8 not shown in this guide. There’s an embedded boulder in the road, shaped like a ramp with one side being vertical, and the trail is way too off-camber and slippery due to fine dust to drive around it. The dust is fine like talcum powder, layered on top of hard packed dirt, and you can’t even walk on the off camber section without slipping and falling toward the boulder. From the side I was approaching, my Wrangler on factory 35s did not have the clearance to climb the vertical side of the boulder to get up onto it. I had to stack rocks for clearance, and use lockers because it’s so slippery here, to climb my right tire up onto the boulder. If you were traveling in the other direction (starting from the Moab side) then it would be easy to get on top of the rock, but you still might need to stack rocks to be able to crawl off it without getting high centered or getting rear bumper damage. Photo attached, although the photo does not show the steep side of the rock. This was the only real obstacle on the trail, but this side of the trail is very bumpy and slow, and to be honest not particularly enjoyable or scenic. Just kind of a slog. I felt fortunate that I didn’t run into any oncoming traffic on the descent because there are many two-track sections and you can’t see down the trail to spot oncoming traffic, and backing up with branches rubbing both sides of your Jeep would not be fun. The only scenic views on this side were as soon as you enter the burned area from the forest fire, and you get a big overlook towards Moab and a final view back to Mount Peele. It took me about an hour and a half to go from the summit to near waypoint 3, where I camped on a very short spur with room for two vehicles (not scenic). Although the day use and picnic area nearby are still closed, the pit toilet is officially open according to a sign on its door. This is basically the end of the trail and a good place to air up when running in this direction, because there only remains a couple minutes on a smooth dirt road until you hit pavement. It might be worth splitting this trail guide into two separate trails, because each side of the summit is so different and can be used by different types of vehicles.

Generally an easy trail. There are a few spots with tight up hill turns that'll flex you out. The first half of the trail up to the summit is great and scenic. It's definitely a change of pace from the slick rock of Moab. Beautiful. I have a 4 door Jeep on 37's and had no issues at all.

I ran this trail east to west (opposite of the trail guide) and made it up to the pass just fine but got stuck in DEEP snow on the west side of the pass! I had to be winched out and head back down to Rimrocker. The group I was with had more built rigs than me and they got stuck as well! With snow, I would rate this as a 7 or even 8. Beautiful views and I look forward to running it sometime in late summer or early fall when snow has melted from the pass

Trail is open. However, some super deep snow still at the top sections. We pushed through a few of them but couldn’t make it all the way. Had to winch quite a few times to get multiple vehicles unstuck. All In all, was an awesome day of snow wheeling. We got dumped on at the top while we were getting unstuck. Pretty cool to see the change in weather from being in Moab in the morning to up the pass mid day.

Very scenic. Made it just past marker #5 before having to stop because of snow pack and drifting.

Great way to escape the Moab heat! The Aspens were at tire peak and absolutely gorgeous. The trail description was very accurate, and this can be a very tight trail with a full-size truck. Our friends took a Ford Raptor up here and definitely got some pinstripes. The obstacles were accurately described and kept the day fun. Was pleasantly surprised with how beautiful and fun this trail was. With snow or rain, it could get very slick quickly, so stay on top of weather reports if planning to run this trail. Highly recommended a long as you're OK with a little pinstriping

Took La Sal Pass to finish Rimrocker in late September 2023. The east side is easy; gentle, well graded dirt road climbing through beautiful aspen forest. Coming down the west side was a different beast. 4-Low and second gear easily handled most of the trail. There's some deep mud in the high forest requiring a little power to get through, but not bad. The worst part of this trail is where it passes through the heavily overgrown thicket. The trail is very rocky, which isn't really a problem if you can pick your line - but with such narrow trails there's really only one way through in most cases. Scratchy is a good description: rock rash and pin striping are all part of the fun, I suppose. The trail improves quite a bit during the long, slow winding descent to Spanish Valley. This is a great trail. It's not easy, but also not terribly difficult - just long and bumpy. As others have said, it's a nice change to the heat of the valley below. There's an interesting and fun rock garden/talus slope that will sketch out those afraid of heights. But it's stable and level - no off-camber to worry about. Just creep across and listen to the tires crunch over the rocks.

A beautiful route that climbs into a dense forest above Moab. Easy enough that we only needed low range in a couple of spots. Once past the early burn area, you will enjoy the cool temps and flowing creeks. Ideal for beginners wanting a change from the hot Red Rocks around Moab.

The first part was burned a few years ago and not particularly interesting, the second part is super over grown and scratchy. The top is pretty. Not my favorite. The paved la sal loop is much more interesting.

Recent rains have made this trail a little harder than described. The middle ascent from the Moab side was a little more rocky and tore up but still completely doable in a stock jeep. The trail is a little overgrown but still fun.

This trail has incredible views and takes you up to just over 10,000 ft elevation and just below the treeline. A nice change of pace from the slickrock trails around Moab.