Salli’s journal recollections day-by-day-ish of our camping trip travelling from Georgia to Colorado – er, Utah… (Tay has officially opted out of journaling at this point)

Anyone still reading these? Comment below if you think I should keep posting, I still have a whole month’s worth of adventures to share!

October 16th – 21st, 2025

Today would be the day we’d do one of the coolest, most bucket list worthy roads either of us had ever got to experience. The weather outlook was decidedly going to be perfect, so we geared everything up to ride, and chose this day to hopefully become one for the books.. (Or Journal / Blog entry, I reckon?..) While we in general don’t do much planning on our trips, this road had been one to pop up on many searches for “top roads / scariest roads in the U.S.” so of course it had to be sought out while we were here. So what road is it that I’m hyping up so much? That’d be the infamous Potash road to the Shafer Switchbacks ending in Canyonlands National Park.

Starting out, we took several trail connectors to get to the actual road since we didn’t want to take too many paved main roads. So from Gemini Bridges, we took 313 to Long Canyon (135) then to 279 almost to Moab – then back tracked a bit until we got back on course down to Potash. (Didn’t want to miss any parts of the road!) What an absolute journey this route was. We felt like cowboys (on steel horses?) taking our time careening through the valleys of an ideal western landscape. So much of this land is untouched that you feel like you’re pushed back in time to a much different era in American history, until a Subaru passes by and you jolt back into reality.. that which is 2025.

Along the way we hit many incredible view points and one or two giant mudhole hurdles, but all was well worth it. Some highlights being “Thelma and Louise Point” “The Potash Ponds” and of course, “The Shafer Switchbacks.” When we rested, we sat on boulders or leaned against our motorcycles to gaze among the many scenic points along the Colorado river where it snaked through the valley peering up to the high canyon walls. Eventually, we reached the sign letting us know that we’d neared the end of our journey and it was time to climb the famous switchbacks that led you out of the canyon and into the national park. This would also be the moment that our GoPro decided it wouldn’t continue on with us, as we’d somehow used every bit of juice in both of the batteries we brought. Great, we’d later get to enjoy this incredible moment by memory, instead of recording some epic video footage to playback.

Anyway.. we took our precious time climbing each switchback, pausing in many corners to let other drivers pass by while we took photos, ambling our way up until we reached the top. I was definitely glad we’d done the route by motorcycle, because I just know I would have probably been an annoying lump of anxiety and panic in a full sized vehicle going in either direction along this part of the trail. The roads looping back to the campsite were mostly paved and relatively empty, so we calmly cruised in the cool desert night air until we arrived back to the comfort of home (sweet camper?..) We turned off our engines, took off our helmets while still seated on the bikes, then turned to each other and grinned in silence for a moment while we processed just how freaking awesome what we’d just done was. If you’ve ever got a chance to drive this road, absolutely do not miss out on it!

The next couple days I spent mostly resting and chilling at the camper while Taylor did more exploring the expansive trails that Moab has to offer. Even after going out many long days on his motorcycle, he said he’d still barely scratched the surface on what all was out there in this infamous off-roading paradise. With the promise of returning, we decided after about 2 weeks in Utah, that it was time for us to either return back into Colorado to wander around until the weather got too cold for us, or start our long trek back home to Georgia. I mean, we did tell our folks we’d come home when the snow ran us out, and it hadn’t snowed yet…

We left out of Moab after catching up on laundry and grabbing a few groceries. The decision was made that we just weren’t ready to return back to Georgia yet after scanning weather apps telling us that it wasn’t THAT cold in Colorado yet. So we headed south towards Cortez, where we fueled everything up and filled the water tank so we’d be set for the next week or so wherever we’d land. We stayed at a quiet dispersed area in the San Juan National Forest near Hesperus, Colorado.

The next day we hung around camp all day, talking on the phone with family, reading, and breathing in crisp fall air. We posted up in our hammock where we figured out round about where our next stop would be.