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Moki Dugway, on Utah State Route 261, runs between Natural Bridges National Monument and off the edge of Cedar Mesa down into Mexican Hat, UT. It is not a road that is frequently traveled due to it being a bit off the grid, but those who know of it often go out of their way to drive the steep gravel switchbacks, at the bottom of which is the west entrance to Valley of the Gods. I’ve always wanted to return to this spot after driving it 25+ years ago, and the Milky Way was in a perfect location for some images.

It was a phenomenal dispersed camping experience, a mere 10’s of meters from a ‘highway’. I pitched my hammock while it was still light, but didn’t have the foresight to sit in it to test the structural integrity of the two hang points (both large rocks, sitting on top of bedrock). Comically–and stupidly–once I got to sleepy time (at about 3:30 AM) I nearly became a victim of natural selection of my own making. As I finally sat in my hammock, it immediately sank to the ground as the uphill boulder position shifted slightly and nearly fell straight toward me; I’d like to think I’d have had the presence of mind to roll out of its path if that had occurred. I spent the next 15 minutes wrestling said rock into a stable position–this time checking it–and again hung that side of the hammock. It was getting quite late and I was tired, and again stupidly, I plopped right down in the hammock, assuming that rock’s position would hold. It did. However, the opposite side of the hang was also doomed to failure, and my butt immediately hit the ground, again! This time it was minor, a result of the goofy suspension that came with the Costco hammock being threaded wrongly to hold tight (the design works, but you have to get the rope going the correct/un-intuitive direction to hold firm, apparently easier said than done).

Several notes to self on this one, the primary one being to always double check both sides of the hang, secondarily to get some proper tree-straps!

Anyway, it was a gorgeous night, with so few cars (none, in fact) that I had to drive the 4Runner all the way into the valley about 5 miles away in order to get some light trails into the image.

Despite the Three Stooges antics with the hammock, another great night!