UTAH - Moki Dugway

Moki Dugway - Easter Day 2017

After marvelling my way across the Valley of the Gods, the dirt road dumped me out onto the paved Utah State Route 261. From this point, a left turn would run me back down to Route 163 and Mexican Hat, which was my eventual destination for the evening.

But, despite the long day that I'd already enjoyed, my energy levels kept increasing, being much too excited to feel fatigue. There was more to see. Still light to burn. So, a right turn was made instead. Back onto gravel as I approached a long-time dreamt about location. To think that I'd almost forgot how close I was to the Moki Dugway.



A "dugway" is a road or trail along a hillside which is dug out to provide a path for transport.

It was built in the 1950's during the uranium boom. It provided a route for ore haulers from the mines on Cedar Mesa to the mill near Mexican Hat.



The term moki is derived from the Spanish word, moqui, a general term used by explorers in this region to describe Pueblo Indians they encountered as well as the vanished Ancestral Puebloan culture.

The Moki Dugway is a staggering, graded dirt switchback road carved into the face of the cliff edge of Cedar Mesa.

It consists of 3-miles of a steep 10% grade.



The switchbacks wind 1,200 feet from the valley floor, near the Valley of the Gods, to Cedar Mesa.



At every turn along the dugway, scenic views of the Valley of the Gods and Monument Valley on the distant southern horizon were breathtakingly revealed.