The Times-Independent

Portal Overlook is a climb to the top

Tales of Trails


The Portal Overlook Trail is a three-mile up and back hike with an emphasis on up. The trailhead is on Highway 279, also known as Potash Road or Wall Street, and begins at the Bureau of Land Management’s JayCee Park Campground, which drivers will come across four miles after turning off Highway 191.

Mountain bikers ride down the Portal Overlook Trail. Photos by Doug McMurdo

There are other places along the road to access the trail, as well, for those who park on the shoulder.

You start level with the Colorado River and 1.5 miles later, you’re about 900 feet higher and cars on the roads below look like Hot Wheels.

It’s a steep hike in places, sometimes rocky and sometimes sandy and a lot of times slickrock, and not particularly well marked. For these reasons, I suppose, the Portal Overlook Trail is rated difficult by the AllTrails hiking website.

Annie takes a break in the shade after hiking to the top of the Portal Overlook Trail.

I had to pause to catch my breath in that final ascent, which worked out well because the scenery is magnificent. Sandstone, slickrock, the snowcapped La Sal Mountains, and once at the overlook — Moab and the rest of Grand County spread through the valley. You’d have to be in an aircraft to get a better view.

Strong word of caution: There are no barriers at the overlook and to fall is to die.

Now, the hike doesn’t have to end there. It goes on to join the Portal Trail, one of the most challenging mountain bike trails anywhere on the planet from what I’ve read. The Portal Trail is part of the Magnificent Seven trail system, which includes Poison Spider about a mile away.

One of the best elevated views of the Moab Valley can be seen from the Portal Overlook.

I personally won’t go further than the overlook because I hike with a dog and the mountain bikers that are coming toward me have enough to think about as this particular trail hugs the edge of cliffs several hundred feet above the road.

When we hiked the Portal Overlook Trail on March 8, we did not see a single biker going uphill, but quite a few were going downhill and needed us to scoot out of the way. In fact, we encountered more mountain bikers than hikers.

While the temperature was in the high 60s, the sun was on us and shade doesn’t exist, so we went through half a gallon of water by the time we finished, with Annie needing a drink more often than I did. On the way down, however, the sun slipped behind the rim and we were in shade for most of the way, so I think hikes late on a summer day would be very doable.

The trail is in shade in the afternoon; something to consider during the hot months.

I would also like to be at the overlook after dark to photograph Moab at night, with the lights on, but that would require me to carry my camera gear in addition to water and other gear, and the dark walk back down would be hairy, even with a high-powered flashlight. I’ll figure out something.

A view of the La Sal Mountains.

Unlike the Hidden Valley Trail, the Portal Overlook Trail starts off reasonably, almost leisurely. You walk through vegetation that grows next to the river for a few hundred feet before you come to sand and cacti and saltbush.

Once you get to the register — the BLM asks that you sign in — the climbing begins for real on a sheet of Kayenta Sandstone. After a little more than a mile look to your right and you’ll see the Moab Valley for the first time. The trail features switchbacks, as most hiking trails on the rims do, and occasionally you’ll have to scramble over bigger rocks.

The trail begins level with the river, but gains roughly 900 feet elevation after about a mile and a half.

This is a hike that will challenge your lungs going up and your knees going down, but you can mitigate these problems by stopping every so often and soaking in the views along the way. Also, be prepared to yield to mountain bikers, most who are fairly exhausted at this point of their ride.