La Sal Mountains

The La Sal Mountains rise east of Moab, Utah, the second-highest range in the state and one of the few laccolithic mountain groups in the country — a cluster of igneous intrusions (diorite and trachyte porphyry) that punched into Permian-through-Cretaceous sedimentary layers 25 to 28 million years ago and were later exposed as the softer surrounding rock eroded away. The range is managed by the Manti-La Sal National Forest. This is genuine mining country: southeastern Utah's uranium-vanadium boom of the mid-20th century worked carnotite-bearing sandstone across this region, and small historic copper prospects dot the range as well. This is a real, well-known landform with confirmed public land status, but it's a whole mountain range, not a single pinpoint site — treat this page as an area overview and narrow to a specific canyon or old prospect before planning a trip.

The La Sal Mountains sit east of Moab, Utah, accessed via the La Sal Mountain Loop Road, within the Manti-La Sal National Forest. The community of La Sal is on the range's south side.

General-area inference: uranium-vanadium prospects in this region are typically old surface digs or shallow adits in sandstone — UNVERIFIED whether any specific site is currently open or safe to visit. Note that collecting uranium ore minerals carries its own handling considerations; casual collectors should be aware carnotite is radioactive, even if only mildly so in small hand samples.

The La Sal Mountains are part of Manti-La Sal National Forest, public USFS land, but standard Forest Service rules on rock and mineral collecting apply — personal-use surface collecting is generally permitted outside of withdrawn areas, wilderness, and active claims, but this should be confirmed with the Moab-area Ranger District before visiting a specific old prospect. Many small prospects in this region are also on unpatented mining claims, which restricts collecting to the claim holder. Confirm land status for any specific site before digging.