Utah's Scariest Road

What's a Moki Dugaway

Moki Dugway

The road is called Moki Dugway. “Dugway” is a term used to describe a roadway carved from a hillside. This Scenic By-way is a stretch of Highway 261 in Utah where the blacktop turns into a dirt road. 

Before you hit the road when you are heading out on a trip, any trip, check to see if any roads along your route are closed. I made this mistake before the Hole in the Rock trip in October 2021. 

Road Closed

There was a washout on Utah 95 heading to the trail so we were detoured. We ended up on some sketchy unknown gravel road with steep climbs and turns. It was a little sketchy as we had our Jeeps on the trailers.  

It was even more scarier on the way back home after our 3-day adventure. They 
detoured us to Mexican Hat, Utah. Little did we know we were on Utah’s Scariest Road. HOLY MOLY!!!  It was by far one of the scariest roads I have been on. Especially since we were still pulling my Jeep on a trailer. 

The gravel road is a three-mile long switchback road carved right into the side of the mountain with 11% grade hair pin turns. 

NO GUARDRAILS with sheer cliffs. It you happen to get detoured to this road the views are absolutely spectacular!