Located in the absolute middle of nowhere Utah is a national monument that preserves three amazing natural bridges.
Southeast Utah is chock full of national park sites, you have Glen Canyon, Hovenweep, Canyonlands, and Arches, as well as Natural Bridges. Located 50 mi northwest of the Four Corners monument and north of Monument Valley, Natural Bridges is not a big tourist draw. It wasn’t high on my list, but I didn’t want to drive all the way back to the Grand Canyon from Black Canyon of the Gunnison in one day. Natural Bridges was perfect stop along the way.
The Colorado Plateau is known for its unique geology. Natural arches are caused by wind and rain erosion. Natural bridges are formed in much of the same process, but they have a wash or creek flowing underneath, making them a “bridge.” Natural Bridges protects three of these natural bridges.
I only spent a morning at the park. I had a 5-hour drive ahead of me and didn’t want to leave too late since I had to work the next day. I went to all the overlooks and took a couple of short trails during my visit.
The park is surrounded by a horseshoe shaped canyon. The sandstone makes very a unique landscape.
The first bridge on the scenic road is Sipapu Bridge. It is the most difficult one to hike down to. A trail actually goes to all three bridges along the bottom of the canyon. It’s a day hike that I want to return to do.
One of the trails leads to an overlook for Horsecollar Ruins, an Ancestral Puebloan cliff dwelling. The trail itself was pretty neat as well.
I love the zigzag canyon.
Such a unique canyon. I have never seen anything like it before.
The canyon “straightens” out into a gentler curve and here is where you find the ruins. They are right there, can you see them?
Now let’s zoom in towards the bottom ledge of the canyon. There are two sets of ruins. This one has a lot of the original wooden structure on the left and a weirdly round twin building on the left. It just looks weird because it still has plaster, which is not normally found on exterior walls of ruins today. I think they were kivas, ceremonial rooms. More on (kivas in this post.)
Here is a bit more zoomed out photo of the left ruins.
And then the right ruins, really snuggled in there. This would have been a prime location, since it is right above a river. A perfect place to live in the dry southwest.
The next bridge is Kachina Bridge, kind of hard to make out with all that lovely vegetation underneath.
The last bridge is Owachomo Bridge. It sure is stunning. This is my favorite of the three. This is the easiest bridge to hike to, so if you are planning the hike through the canyon bottom, start at Sipapu Bridge and end at Owachomo and hike across the mesa back to your car. It would be the easiest way to get out of the canyon.
The last overlook at the park was that of Bears Ears, an important place for the local tribes. There has been much contention about preserving this area as a national monument. It is already part of a national forest, but designating the area as a national monument will give this sacred place more protection.
Leaving Natural Bridges, I followed a map blindly and ended up on a very interesting road, Utah-261 (yes, not GPS, but a map). Luckily the dirt section going down the mesa was passable by passenger cars. Apparently this is a tourist attraction that I never knew about.
Looking out towards Monument Valley.
The decent requires driving down a steep, dirt road, full of switchbacks. It was pretty awesome actually. Amazing views.
Natural Bridges is a lovely place to stop while in the Four Corners area. It is well outside of the main tourist route, a much quieter destination than Moab or Page. If you find yourself in the area, make sure you stop by and check out these awesome natural bridges for yourself.
Check out my next update where I explore the unique landscape at Tent Rocks!
