‘Moki Dugway and The Valley of the Gods’ by Deborah Owen

It was the fall of 1987 when we drove over Moki Dugway to access the Valley of the Gods road. We didn’t know that Moki was not suitable for an RV or that it grew narrower as it went. On that trip, we learned not to follow all the wheel tracks we saw. 

We chugged southbound on SR 261 in our old ‘78 Titan and faced Moki Dugway without hesitation. Our first tremors came during the set of switchbacks, but gravel roads without rails and a 1,000-foot sheer drop-off shook us up more. Halfway to the bottom, we came face to face with another motor home whose occupants were equally as ignorant – but hey, they were on the inside track. All they had to do was watch us go over the edge and report a fatality.

We both maneuvered to the widest spot we could find. The men drivers quipped through open windows as our mirrors almost touched, but when I looked straight down, no road was visible – just clods of dirt that were rolling into the huge abyss.

My screams were met with laughs and a placating, “It will be alright.” I was a Christian, so I wasn’t afraid of dying. I was just afraid of the intervening ten minutes between earth and heaven’s portals. To this day, I think an angel held that bank together.

The rest of the drive went without incident, except for my thumping heart, which nearly exited its wee chest as I wondered how many more vehicles we would face. Once down the Dugway, we traveled another mile and turned left onto the Valley of the Gods Road.

By then it was late afternoon, and we were engaging a 16-mile trip where the top speed would be 10 mph. That, in itself, should have been a warning, but being the happy campers we were, we pressed on. After crossing several dry ravines that made us drag, we came to the deeper one in the picture. By that time, we had learned that motor homes didn’t belong in the Valley of the Gods either. 

The ravine was much bigger than it appears here. The road before us climbed suddenly and we knew our back wheels would hang in mid-air if we proceeded. In the picture, my husband was preparing to build a bridge with flat rocks – which we later left for other ignorant Rv’ers.

As we look back on those days, we just shake our heads and laugh. Were we really that stupid? I guess so.

Since the year 2000, we have lived full-time in a motor home. Now we own a 2001, 38′ Damon Ultrasport with two slides and we tow a Jeep for trips like Mogi Dugway and the Valley of the Gods, which will always hold a special place in our hearts.

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Deborah Owen is the CEO & Founder of Creative Writing Institute, http://www.creativewritinginstitute.com, where she develops courses, edits, and tutors writing students. If you are interested in writing classes or if you have a writing (or camping) question, feel free to contact her.