Natural Bridges National Monument Trails

Natural Bridges National Monument is in the remote Cedar Mesa canyon country of southeast Utah and has three examples of giant natural rock spans. Traveling around the Bridge View Drive, there are trails leading down to each of the three Bridges.

Bridges are different from arches in that bridges are partially formed by the moving water of a stream, where arches are formed by frost action on seeping water. These bridges are in a sandstone layer that is deeper than the layer where the stone arches of Arches Park occur.

The first hike along the nine mile loop road is Sipapu Bridge Trail. The trail down there is only 0.6 miles but has a 500 ft. elevation change. There are wooden ladders, stairs, and hand rails to help you traverse the steep slippery rock. Sipapu Bridge is 220 feet high, 31 feet wide, and has a span of 268 feet with a thickness of 53 feet.

At the bottom it is lush and green and a different world from the desert conditions on the rim. This area of southeast Utah is rich in Ancestral Pueblo Ruins and these canyons have some, though you need to explore to find them.
The Kachina Bridge Trail here was the longest of the three bridge trails at 0.75 miles down, but the elevation change not so bad at 350 ft. On the road to the Kachina Trail Head is an overlook for Horse Collar Ruin. The Kachina Bridge is 210 feet high, 44 feet wide, with a span of 204 feet and is the thickest here at 93 feet.

A lot of work had been done on the trail, cutting and arranging stones to make convenient steps down an otherwise steep route. There are some faint petroglyphs high on the walls of the Kachina Bridge.

These bridges are so massive that it is hard to take pictures of them up close with your typical cameras. Again, it was much greener and moister at the bottom of the canyon and the place was alive with birds calling.

The Owachoma Bridge Trail is the shortest and easiest of the three bridge trails. This bridge is 106 feet high, 27 feet wide with a span of 180 feet and a thickness of only 9 feet.

Owachoma Bridge is an example of an older bridge, perhaps near collapse. It is so old that the stream that formed it doesn't flow under it any more. It is easy to get to, only 0.2 mile and not very deep. This one is on the cover of the park brochure, the highlight of natural bridges. It is possible to hike between each of these bridges through the canyons with connecting loop trail on the mesa top. A tour of all three bridges in one hike is 8.6 miles.

Loop Hike between Sipapu and Kachina Bridges

The loop hike between Sipapu and Kachina Bridge is 5.6 miles with half the hike in White Canyon and the other half on the mesa top. I hiked in midsummer a few days after some heavy summer rains.

I parked at the trail head for Sipapu Bridge, the first stop on the Bridge View Drive, but instead of going down I walked the 1.8 mile mesa top trail, in about 40 minutes, through the Pinon Juniper forest to the trail head for Kachina Bridge, then went down the steep steps and ladders to the bridge. Along the mesa top trail there are views of the Bears Ears, two nearby buttes. There may be small ruins here also.

The recent rains that cooled things off have also left some puddles and mud in the canyon bottom and washed out the trail segments somewhat.

About two miles along the 3.0 mile distance to Sipapu Bridge, Deer Canyon enters White Canyon from the west. If you're not alert you might take the wrong route like I did. I ended up doing some accidental canyoneering before I figured out something was wrong. The Horse Collar Ruin is near the canyon junction but I missed seeing it. I've read that one of the early park managers hiked past this ruins for years before spotting it, so it is easy to miss. It would be good strategy to spot it from the overlook and keep the location in mind.

Back on the right track, I finally arrived at Sipapu Bridge and made it out of the canyon after a 3.5 hour hike. The approach to Sipapu from down the canyon gives some different broader views of this massive formation.


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Four Corners Hikes-Cedar Mesa in Utah

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