Jumpy's Blog

Karen and I are having a love affair - with a road!!! Highway 261 in Southern Utah.

Definitely not for the faint of heart.  6425 feet above sea level dropping 1100 feet in under 3 miles on hairpin curves at a 10% grade.  Did I mention gravel road, barely 2 lanes wide and NO guardrails.  5mph? How about 3mph just to be on the safe side?  Stay on the designated roads? OK sure. No problem.  Where else would I want to go?  Where the "designated road" ends a 1100 foot cliff starts - straight down!!  Did I mention - NO guardrails? Oh yes, I did.
Your worst nightmare is that a motorhome is coming at you from the other direction.

Highway 261 (on Cedar Mesa) is located in southern Utah. It runs 34 miles connecting Hwy 163 just north of Mexican Hat, with Hwy 95, just east of Natural Bridges National Monument. The highway is part of the Utah section of the Trail of the Ancients, a National Scenic Byway. It includes steep switchbacks as it traverses the Moki Dugway.

2002

We discovered hwy 261 in 2002 quite by accident. 

We left the Moab area, traveled south on hwy 191 and stopped to pick up subs at Blanding.  About 5 miles past the hwy 95 junction, just south of Blanding, Karen noticed that hwy 95 connected to hwy 261 which looked like a good road and it would connect us to hwy 163 right at Valley of the Gods where we were going.  We turned around, backtracked, stopped for our picnic, and headed west on hwy 95. Then south on hwy 261. 

This portion of the hwy is a long flat plateau and we imagined we were driving at the top of the world - we were.  We kept seeing signs about curves, switchbacks, no vehicles towing, no trucks, and no busses and we knew we were heading into something very unusual. When we arrived at the top of the Moki Dugway we couldn't believe the view overlooking the valley - and the road we had to take to get the bottom of it.  We we laughing so hard going down the road the tears were blocking my vision.  Not to mention we nearly wet our pants.  I actually had to stop and collect myself.  Karen's exclamations while she overlooked the "straight down 1100 foot cliff" (on her side of the car or course) were enough to make a hardened trucker blush.

2003

In 2003 we had to make sure our route included hwy 261 so we could drive "up" it.  It was just as much a thrill as the drive down - except the "straight down 1100 foot cliff" was now on my side of the car.  Thanks goodness we were driving hugged up to the mountain side this time.  If I had been hanging near the edge I don't think I could have driven it without having a heart attack - or at least wetting my pants!! 

We met a group of five traveling bikers at the top who were equally as thrilled as us.  We took some pictures of them. Unfortunately the pictures were on their cameras and we neglected to get emails so they could send us some.

2005

We had to miss 2004 so it was 2005 before we were able to get back to hwy 261. We were coming home from our west coast trip across hwy 50 to Ely. It was a new route for us and we ended up on Scenic Route 12 through the Escalantes and Capital Reef National Park spending the night at Torrey before heading out to hwy 261. We approached Highway 261 from the north this year and drove down, up and back down to connect with hwy 163 heading home.

State Route 261 is located entirely within south-central San Juan County, Utah. It runs 34 miles north, from the junction of U.S. Route 163 three-miles north of Mexican Hat, to the junction with State Route 95, just east of Natural Bridges National Monument.

The highway is part of the Utah section of the Trail of the Ancients, a National Scenic Byway. It includes steep switchbacks as it traverses the Moki Dugway.

"Moki" is a local term for the ancient Puebloan people who inhabited the Colorado Plateau hundreds of years ago. "Dugway" is a term used to describe a roadway carved from a hillside. The Moki Dugway is literally carved from the cliff face and talus slope on the edge of Cedar Mesa. The route connects Utah Highway 95 with US Highway 163 by crossing Cedar Mesa and plunging down the dugway at an 11% grade, revealing sweeping views of Valley of the Gods, stripes of color in the rocks of the San Juan River Canyon known as the Navajo Tapestry, and distant Monument Valley.

2006

It wasn't quite dark, so we decided play around on Hwy 261 before stopping in Bluff;  but, true to form, we found somewhere else to explore.  After driving up and down Hwy 261, we went up again because Karen wanted to investigate a road we'd been ignoring for several years.  The road is called Muley Point Road and I'm sure it is aptly named.  Definitely fit for mules.  Oh My Gawd.

The next morning we climbed Hwy 261 one more time then north to Hwy 95.

2007

It's amazing that we can travel all the way to New Orleans and then by careful planning find ourselves back on highway 261 on the way home, but that's exactly what we did.  It just didn't seem right that we could go away and not visit one of our favorite places. So, although it was a "destination New Orleans" trip - we ended up in Valley of the Gods and highway 261 again.  It just felt like we were home.

This year Karen drove it for the first time (she was getting pretty relaxed on it until that point - then she freaked). It was early evening - not much traffic so we were able to stop several times to take pictures. We drove up and down three times before we called it a day.  

Arriving back on highway 261 is a good feeling for us. As much as it never seems to change - it really never stays the same. Karen even notices when some rocks have moved or a part of the road is changed - sometimes made wider and sometimes missing a shoulder.

This year we noticed a wreck over the cliff and we are absolutely sure we never saw that before. Whether it was a prop or an actual accident, it reminds us that although the road is stimulating, exciting and fun to drive - it can also be very dangerous.

June 24, 2008 - Hwy 261 Nightmare

At the bottom of the Moki Dugway on Hwy261 there is a turnaround where those less adventurous can about-face instead of climbing the butte.  A fully loaded tractor trailer with a secondary pup full of sheep was pulling back onto the road from the turnout so we pulled into turnout to give him room to pass - assuming he had mistakenly taken a wrong road. 

Half way up the butte - we came upon two cars of women and kids, one of which was attempting to back down the treacherous gravel road.  A glance to the right gave us the explanation why someone would back up at this point and saw another fully loaded tractor trailer rounding the narrow bend heading in our direction.  We were stunned as there was no doubt the clearly marked road restriction signs posted were intended for this type of vehicle.  We suddenly realized that the first truck we'd seen at the bottom had not been turning around but had also just come down the hill. 

The truck passed the 3 cars pulled off to the side and Karen yelled at the two men "Are you crazy" and they laughed as the drove by leaving a cloud of dust.  Out came the camera and history is once again recorded.