After the Sipapu Natural Bridge hike, we took a drive south on Utah 261 towards Mexican Hat. A sign not to far from our campground warned “10 % grades – switchbacks – narrow gravel road 23 miles ahead.” I learned later that part of the route is called the Moki Dugway.
It was actually the shortest route to our next destination when we resumed our drive the next day, so, besides an afternoon excursion, we were also checking the route out to see if we should go the longer route. The Moki Dugway is a series of steep switchbacks down a gravel road from the top of Cedar Mesa over less than 3 miles. It was built in the late ‘50s to for transporting uranium ore from a mine to a processing mill in Mexican Hat.
“The State of Utah recommends that only vehicles less than 28 feet in length and 10,00 pounds in weight attempt to negotiate this steep (10% grade), narrow, and winding road.”
That eliminates us, then, since towing our small car sends us way over that length. We went the long way round the next day.
We also visited Goosenecks State Park and drove through Mexican Hat that afternoon.
Trail to bridge: .6 mile (.97 km) – 500 foot (152 m) elevation change.
A strenuous hike rewards the adventurous with a closer view of Sipapu Bridge. The trail leads to either a viewpoint partway down the canyon wall or to the canyon bottom where you can stand beneath one of the world’s largest natural bridges.
The trail contains two flights of stairs, three ladders, steep switchbacks, exposed bare rock, and stretches requiring the use of handrails.
Leaving Moab, Utah, we had a few days before our next reserved camp site – on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. While we didn’t have reservations, we decided to head down to Natural Bridges National Monument, still in Utah.
Unfortunately, we weren’t able to camp at the monument for two reasons. All of the sites were filled and there is a 26 ft. length limit, which includes the RV and the tow, or towed, vehicle. Our little motorhome is just under that, but we were towing a little car, so were over length, even if there would have been a site available.
However, a ranger at the desk in the visitor center was able to direct us to an overflow camping area a few miles from the park on BLM land. We were able to find a nice little spot there with a bit of privacy from the few other camps utilizing the area.
I’m going to try to work through the remainder of photos from the trip a bit faster, without working up a video for now. I do plan to put together videos and pages with links to references, but that will be down the road a ways, figuratively speaking.
Our final visit in the Moab area was to Canyonlands’ “Island in the Sky.”
The Island in the Sky in Canyonlands National Park is a mesa with sandstone cliffs that drop over 1,000 feet to the terrain below. It is the easiest part of the park to visit, having many spectacular viewpoints at pullouts along the paved scenic roads. At an average elevation of 6100 feet, it is the highest part of the park. It includes about a dozen trails of varying lengths, some across the plateau as well as a few descending toward the rivers.
Selected Information Resources:Canyonlands National Park
Dead Horse Point, near Moab, Utah, is a high plateau peninsula connected to the main plateau by a narrow neck of land. It is part of Dead Horse Point State Park and has spectacular views of the Colorado River, Canyonlands National Park, La Sal Mountains, and other scenic features.
According to legend, the point, with it’s 30 yard wide neck, was used as a natural corral by 19th century cowboys. Apparently, at one time, the corral was abandoned, gate left open, with unwanted cull horses still inside. Not all of the horses left the point, dying of thirst in view of the Colorado River 2000 feet below.
A more prosaic explanation is that Dead Horse Point was named by early Mormon Pioneers for a rock formation at the base of the plateau that looks like a dead white horse laying on its side (photo on right). In this explanation, the legend of the dead horses in the corral was created by a Moab elementary school student in the early 20th century for a “chamber-of-commerce” type contest for a story to lure tourists.
After the Sipapu Natural Bridge hike, we took a drive south on Utah 261 towards Mexican Hat. A sign not to far from our campground warned “10 % grades – switchbacks – narrow gravel road 23 miles ahead.” I learned later that part of the route is called the Moki Dugway.
Natural Bridges National Monument, Utah
A more prosaic explanation is that Dead Horse Point was named by early Mormon Pioneers for a rock formation at the base of the plateau that looks like a dead white horse laying on its side (photo on right). In this explanation, the legend of the dead horses in the corral was created by a Moab elementary school student in the early 20th century for a “chamber-of-commerce” type contest for a story to lure tourists.
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