I loved Natural Bridges National Monument so much!
Until we planned 2021 winter camping trip, I had never heard of Natural Bridges National Monument. I first choose Kane Gulch/Bullet canyon backpacking (wrote about in a previous entry), then I found there is Natural Bridges National Monument nearby on the map. I wondered, "Oh, what's this?" Because I love natural bridges, I looked up and found there are three bridges there. Why not checking them out if we were going to be close by!?
Natural bridges are made by running water force. Thus you would find stream or river under bridge or nearby, although not always water in the stream in the desert. On the other hand, arches are made by not the erosion of moving water, but by other forces.
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Owachomo bridge
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By erosion state, bridges can be categorized young, middle, or old. In the Natural Bridges National Monument, there are three different age's bridges.
Owachomo bridge is an old one and no longer erode by moving water, but now by others like frost. As you can see in the picture above, Owachomo bridge is very thin! It is no surprise it get collapsed tomorrow. However it could stand for 300 years more.
Owachomo bridge is very distinctive, big bridge. It was really exciting to see it in person. The photograph gives you a sense how massive it is. When you are close, you will feel that sense 10 times more. It was super lucky to have the view only for us. From the side I was taking above picture, maybe it looks not too thin, however, now look at the below picture. This picture was taken from the other side from above. It looks really thin and I was convinced that it could fall this moment.
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Owachomo bridge
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Kachina bridge
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Now the opposite: young bridge, which is Kachina bridge. As you can see in the left, it is very thick. It was very thick so I didn't even notice for minutes that there was a bridge ahead when I was walking on a dry creek. You see stream (although it is dry currently) is under the bridge. We sat there in the sun under Kachina bridge and had chocolate. What a luxury spot to eat chocolate. Extra happy.
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Kachina bridge
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It was hard to get the image to show how thick and immense Kachina bridge is. The left picture might tell you that feeling.
It was good to see nice blue sky from both side of bridge!
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Sipapu bridge
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Sipapu bridge is the middle one. This is handsome and photogenic. Span is the biggest among the three. Close to the point I took the picture above, there was a ruin under alcove. Nice to live with this view, although I am sure the weather was tough at times.
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rock art
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In this monument, you can hike all the three bridges in a loop (8 miles). Also you can see (look down bridges from above) them from overlook point on the scenic drive loop road. If you don't have time to hike, it is worth driving around.
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Nice view
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Another
option is hike 1 mile to the each bridge from road. We hiked (you can
imagine?) 8 miles and saw many more that can't be seen from road. For
example, these rock art. Hand stamps and maybe animal.
Hiking between those three bridges are in the canyon. It is quite a dramatic view. Some pictures in the left. Interesting rocks and good winding canyons. I can understand why these bridges were created by moving water force.
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Between bridges are canyon
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It was really nice to be out there. Recommended destination for all fellow hikers!
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