The dirt is red here by the way. We pull off to make the decision to go and it was definitely worth it.
The road is about 17 miles long and so easy any car could drive it, as long as it wasn't raining. The rock formations and view are spectacular and on a Monday, not at all crowded. A few people here and there that were camping, but that was it. We did see this beetle (at left) sprinting along on the sand. We took our time, stopping now and then for pictures. It took us an hour to ride through it and if I do it again, I'd stop for longer. I think I'd like to come back in the car with Vicki – she'd love it.
Leaving there and continuing north, you travel through 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. Constructed in 1958, the route connects US95 with US163 and is a series of switchbacks to go up and down the hillside. For us on the bikes it was nothing. The corners were actually paved (probably to prevent road damage) and plenty wide.
I imagine a different feeling though coming down with a big RV or tractor/trailer rig as the switchbacks are pretty sharp.
From there we connect back up with US95 and continued north. 95 goes all the way to the Canadian border and for us up north, isn't really a big deal. I typically avoid it as a boring highway with too many cars and trucks. But down here in southern Utah, this road became a highlight of the trip. The closer we got to the Colorado River and Lake Powell, the more "other worldly" the terrain became.
Hard rock formations that look like lava was suddenly cooled to leave wavy, undulating terrain. 
We stopped around 12:15pm at a scenic view overlooking the old mining town of Hite.
It really was a spectacular view. But time was ticking and we needed to make some miles. So off we went again and eventually the views got just as boring as you might expect for parts of Utah. We rode into Hanksville around 1:15pm and stopped at the
Slick Rock Café for lunch (I had eaten here seven years earlier).
After Hanksville we rode to Loa and turned north on to state route 72, crossed I-70 and continued north as far as Ferren. By then it was a quarter to 6 and we needed to find a place to camp.
Tom Clark
I'm a Senior Software Engineer at Intellitect, living in Spokane, Washington. I also do a little development work on the side. And I love riding motorcycles all over the country with my friends.
