Moki Dugway and Natural Bridges N.M., Utah

We had originally planned to drive directly up to Moab from Monument Valley, but we got some really good advice from other campers and a poster on the Sprinter forum advising us to detour up highway 261 to see the Valley of the Gods and Natural Bridges National Monument.  Once again, the scenic route pays off.

On our way north out of Monument Valley, we pulled off of highway 163 and I was able to cajole Kevin into letting me capture this familiar shot you might recognize from the movie Forrest Gump.  “Run, Kevin, Run!”

Past the town of Mexican Hat, we turned off onto highway 261.  If you are curious as to how the town of Mexican Hat got its name, there’s a clue in this photo – the naturally-occurring rock pile looks like a man wearing a Mexican sombrero, doesn’t it?  Anyway, we were elated to be one of the only cars on the road for miles.  We would soon find out why. 

We continued up the 261 and kept seeing signs warning about “unimproved road ahead” (whatever that means) and that vehicles towing trailers and RV’s over 10,000 lbs should not use the road.  We couldn’t see why; it looked perfectly straight on the atlas.  Kevin looked at the GPS and it looked like the road appeared to actually be wider up ahead (he was zoomed all the way out, this is an important fact to note).  We continued full-steam ahead because our Sprinter is only 8500 lbs and also because we are stupid like that.  Another important fact: I was driving.

We saw the turnoff for Valley of the Gods, but what really held our attention were the Cliffs of Insanity looming ahead (that’s what I call them, I have no idea what the cliffs are really called).  “Surely, the road goes around those cliffs, right?” I asked.  (Spoiler alert: the answer was “No”).

As we approached the end of the pavement (apparently “unimproved” means “gravelly dirt”), Kevin repeatedly offered to drive, sounding more nervous than I was.  I probably should have let him take over, but something inside me just whispered “You can do it.”  So I did.

Steep grades and a ridiculous number of hairpin turns followed.  This section of road was only about four miles, though, and to be honest the Sprinter handled it just fine.  Once I realized that at 15 miles an hour we weren’t going to go over the side or anything, I was able to relax and just enjoy it.  Kevin was taking photos the whole way.  When we made it to the top, he took this one which gives you an idea of the road.  I was just glad that no one was behind us and -- more importantly -- no one was coming down while we were going up.

When we got back on pavement, Kevin was still trying to figure out why the road had looked fine on the GPS.  Then he had an epiphany.  The “wide spot” in the road looks like this when you zoom in.  We later learned that the road has a name (the “Moki Dugway”), and there are actually postcards of it that look similar to our photo above. 

Our next stop was Natural Bridges National Monument, a small park kind of off the beaten path, and there were only a handful of other people at the visitor’s center when we got there.  After the whirlwind of tourists in Monument Valley, visiting this park was a nice respite.  In appearance it’s a little like Canyon de Chelly in that there is a river valley with sheer sandstone cliffs on either side.  But unlike de Chelly, the sandstone here is white, and the whole park is crisscrossed with trails to the natural bridges, so it’s a great spot if you want to hike.  Here is a shot of me feeling invincible after conquering the Moki Dugway.

The monument is named for three natural bridges that have been slowly eroded by the streams running through the canyon.  Natural bridges are always eroded by moving water, whereas natural arches (which we’ll see in a few days) can be eroded by other forces such as frost or seeping water.  The oldest bridge, Owachomo, is 106 feet high with a span of 180 feet.  Of the three it’s probably the most delicate – it’s just 27 feet wide and 9 feet thick:

We did a few short hikes to see the bridges and some ruins, and if we’d had more time we could have spent the whole day here.  But we still had many miles to go, so we got back in the van and headed west on 95 to the 191.  We purposefully passed by the turnoff for the Visitors Center for the Needles district of Canyonlands National Park (we won’t be able to visit that part of Canyonlands on this trip).  But we did go to the Needles Overlook.  The Colorado River has cut away at this section of Utah for millennia, and the view is truly mind-boggling -- there are canyons within canyons and your mind can’t really wrap itself around what you’re seeing.  Here’s Kevin trying to figure it all out.

We’re now right in Moab at Canyonlands Campground, where we’ll be for the next four nights.  Our spot is shady and we already met a friendly older guy with a Sprinter who came by to talk shop.