After all these years of exploring the deserts and canyons of Utah, I never bothered to go to Natural Bridges National Monument. It’s pretty much out of the way from anywhere and after all, it’s just another couple arches, right? Well, on our recent road trip after backpacking in nearby Dark Canyon, Natural Bridges was finally on our way, so I figured we might as well stop and check it out.
And we were blown away. First off, the natural bridges — particularly Sipapu — are absolutely mind-boggling. These aren’t some dainty little arches; these are ginormous masses of earth soaring through the sky over the canyon. And what a canyon too! Even if the bridges weren’t there, White Canyon would still be an awesome place for a hike. And if that’s not enough, there’s an abundance of Ancestral Puebloan ruins throughout the canyon — including some of the most fascinating sites I’ve yet seen.
The thing about Natural Bridges Monument, though, is that there’s not a whole lot to see from the road. A roadside tourist might not see what’s so great about this place. You’ve got to at least hike down to Sipapu to see the glory. On our first day there we hiked the entire “three bridge” loop hike starting and ending at the Sipapu trailhead. We enjoyed the canyon so much we decided to spend a second day there hiking up-canyon to see more of it!
Horse collar ruins are located between Sipapu and Kachina bridges, up on a hard-to-get-to ledge as usual. It’s so fascinating to image people living here almost a thousand years ago, and the fact that these ruins have been sitting here for that long gives them an aura of sacredness.
See more photos below!
Kachina Bridge, though not as high or long as Sipapu, is even more massive in girth — 93 feet thick!
So, the moral of my little photo story is: Natural Bridges Monument is awesome! I’m sure I’ll return to White Canyon for more hiking in the future.
2 thoughts on “Natural Bridges”
The recent posts on less known places in S.Utah is good information. Thanks.
Lovely pictures. If you know of any planned trips to this area or the Grand Gulch that I could join in first half of Sept 2016, please let me know. Gary
The recent posts on less known places in S.Utah is good information. Thanks.
Lovely pictures. If you know of any planned trips to this area or the Grand Gulch that I could join in first half of Sept 2016, please let me know. Gary