Living on a road less traveled, and loving it

"In my opinion, it would be too dangerous to pave," he said "People would drive too fast."

He said most motorists travel through Moki Dugway at about 20 mph. Trucks travel 5 mph when going down. Paving the road might also require widening it and adding guard rails, adding a lot more cost.

Laws said of the 622 miles of county road in San Juan, 109 miles are paved, 165 miles are gravel and another 351 are dirt.

"Many (Navajo) reservation roads are unpaved," he said, noting that paving them requires dealing with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and that can be a complicated challenge. Lack of funding is another key issue. AA third problem is the lack of gravel on the reservation. It has to be hauled in from 60-70 miles away.

"We spend a lot of time working on the reservation," Laws said, noting his workers stretch each dollar as far as they can.

There are also a lot of clusters of Native American homes in San Juan County that rely on unimproved roads to reach up to a dozen residences in one area.

San Juan County paved the final 12-mile Utah portion of the road to the Navajo Mountain community a few years ago. Navajo Mountain area is not only famous for its namesake 10,388-foot mountain that rises sharply above the desert, but Rainbow Bridge is nearby.

So remote is this Navajo community of some 400 residents that you have to drive almost 100 miles, one-way, through Arizona to access it.

Like San Juan, Box Elder County has large stretches of unpaved roads.

For example, reaching the town of Grouse Creek and its 400-some residents requires an approximately 20-mile gravel drive off Utah Highway 30, between Park Valley and Wells, Nev.

Patti Kimber said she's lived in Grouse Creek for about 20 years.

"It doesn't bother me at all," she said of the unpaved drive south to reach a paved highway. She said her family is more tied to Idaho, and that's an even longer, 35-40 mile, stretch of unpaved travel to access the Burley area.

What if they paved these roads?

"I worry they might bring in more tourists," she said, which would be good for some residents and bad for others. Solitude is something some Grouse Creek residents relish, and paved thoroughfares would undoubtedly infringe on that.

Kimber admits to more wear and tear on the family vehicles. More dust and paint chips are also common factors, but the gravel roads are well maintained and even snow removal is consistent, when needed, she said.

The three or four miles through the center of Grouse Creek is a paved road.

Nearby and also accessed by dirt roads are the small communities of Lucin, Lynn, Etna, Standrod and Yost, which are home to another nearly 4,000 residents.