"KGB" (KGB) wrote:
>
>>Don't miss the Moki Dugway and Muley Point near Mexican Hat.
>>http://www.so-utah.com/souteast/powerdrv/mappwdrv.gif
>Unless it has changed in the past ten years, I would point out that
>the Moki Dugway is not for those of a nervous disposition.
There are only two things that unnerve some people when driving the
Moki Dugway -- driving *down* it, or *up* it (:o/). In the former
situation, coming to the top edge of Cedar Mesa is something of a
surprise. After blasting along on a good paved road for many miles
suddenly the world ends at a *very* big cliff. (If you want to see
what happens when arriving at that cliff edge when not expecting it
check out the rusted wreck on the cliff wall of one car that didn't
make that first turn.)
>My wife (normally very stoic and practical) was literally screaming
>and whimpering before we got to the top in our rental car - I think
>the final straw was when I had to pull right over, to let an enormous
>RV past that was sliding (not quite uncontrollably) down. She said it
>was staring straight down several hundred feet out of the car
>passenger window that did it. 8^)
Passengers with acrophobic tendencies probably shouldn't look out the
window on the way *up* the dugway. Apart from that, this three-mile
section of gravel road offers some different challenges. The gravel
surface makes for a lot of sliding around. And if it is badly
washboarded, one gets the impression that no one on the road has any
directional control (feeling your vehicle going into a four-wheel
sideways drift is only slightly less terrifying than realizing that
the vehicle coming down towards you has zero control).
Having said all that, the Moki Dugway is a scenic wonder, and a big
shortcut between Natural Bridges and Mexican Hat, and Utah does a good
job of maintaining the road (they have even paved some corners of the
upper curves). The road has indeed been widened and I drive it quite
often. Knowing the road -- and knowing how to drive a road surface
like that -- makes the trip quite enjoyable.
But it's those huge RVs driven by the tourists coming down directly
towards me -- sideways and utterly out of control -- that challenges
my sphincter control from time to time.
Caveat |