Blogs from Natural Bridges National Monument, Utah, United States, North America

A great day visiting Natural Bridges National Monument - 35 miles in the middle of nowhere in southern Utah. The site contains 3 of the longest natural bridges in the world - Sipapu, Kachina, and Owachomo; names from the hopi. The scenic, nine-mile Bridge View Drive leads to the three natural bridges. Additionally, hiking trails lead directly to the base of each bridge so you can see them up-close. As one of the trail signs indicated: A strenuous hike rewards the adventurous. I hiked to the base of all three, and although not long hikes, the paths were quite steep. On one, you descend 500 feet in .6 of a mile. The ladders and safety railings helped! In total I probably hiked 3-4 hours for the 3 bridges combined. Needless to say, I will sleep well ... read more

I had two very interesting days. Yesterday I got stuck in a sand storm just outside of Moab and had to slow down to about 20 mph for 1 hour. My hands were so cramped up from holding the steering wheel I can still feel the plastic mold under my fingernails. The wind was so strong (the little van was chucked about from one side to the other) and the visibility so bad that I started to get very stressed and scared, especially when I saw an electrical storm behind all that sand. That’s when I decided to hide in a hotel in Bluff, right next to the twin towers, as they call this rock formation. I totally scored here and I will include a photo of the rustic, Navajo Nation owned cabin I rented for ... read more

Utah inspires the artist in all of us. There was a heavy rain the day before was came through. It made the reds in the rock formations even more vibrant. On a day of 368 miles driving, we managed to see Lake Powell, Natural Bridges Natl Monument and Capital Reef National Park. Incredible! The first stop was Natural Bridges National Monument. The Bridges differ from arches because they are caused by the erosive action of moving water. Arches are caused by other erosive forces such as frost and seepage. There are three bridges in the Park with several great viewpoints. Off we go to Lake Powell. We stopped at the Bridge, and then later way above the Bridge for a better view. Lake Powell is the second largest man-made reservoir in the US. It was created ... read more

Today we tried to go to Yucca House NM - - Turns out it was made a NM in 1919, but it is just several piles of rubble with no facilities, not even a sign to locate it. So we made a U turn on US 160 and made for Hovenweep NM. It is a very small park but includes several sets of ancient indian houses/villages. We got passports stamped, walked to the easy to get to sites, and took a bunch of photos and then headed out to Natural Bridges NP. All back roads - - some better than others. The scenery though was uniformally beautiful. The natural bridges in the park (three of them that we could see from the over looks) are really impressive. Had to drive UT 95 34 miles in and ... read more

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 ... read more