Photo Friday: Natural Bridges National Monument

Natural Bridges is located in SE Utah, and is (or has been) surrounded by the Bears Ears National Monument, which it predates by a good century--Natural Bridges National Monument was created by Teddy Roosevelt in 1908 (Bears Ears was protected in 2016). The heart of the monument is the White Canyon, where there are three significant bridges--Kachina, Owachomo, and Sipapu. My project on the May morning I was there was to hike to the Sipapu bridge, a 1.5-mile drop into the canyon and back out. What I ended up doing was a 5.75 mile loop from Sipapu to Owachomo and back up over the mesa to my car.

Sun's up--time to get out of camp!

20 minutes later at the Sipapu Bridge overlook. Spot the bridge down there? You can't actually see through it from this angle.

Time for another bit of pedantry. In case you are wondering, there's a reason these are called bridges, not arches. And that reason is totally tied up to their location. If you've visited Arches NP, you know you drive up onto a mesa, where the arches are often standing around on high spots. Meanwhile, at Natural Bridges, we're climbing down into a canyon. And that's because while arches are caused primarily by wind-driven erosion, natural bridges are carved by running water. There's a stream in that canyon (not that it runs much anymore, but once upon a time there was more water), and it carved the canyon--and cut bridges through oxbow curves.

Back to the scenery.

The park service has kindly installed stairs and ladders to help visitors get up and down the cliffy bits.

 

I think I was the first person down the trail that morning. I flushed an immense committee of vultures (the Internet tells me that's the name for a group of them on the ground. Once in flight, as in this photo, they become a kettle of vultures). 

The vultures continued to swoop around me for some time. The wind whistling through their wings is startlingly loud in such a quiet landscape.

I began to get views of the bridge. Follow the cairns for the only way down there!

This trail isn't for some of my friends. There were some edges, and in addition to the stairs shown above, at least two ladders to get off this shelf.

Nearly down. Looking up canyon under the bridge.

Passing under the bridge.

I detoured far enough upstream to get a shot of the bridge looking south.

At this point, I was supposed to head back up to the car and continue driving home.

Almost directly under the bridge there was a temping little sign pointing out that the trail continues down canyon to the Owachomo bridge. A little research with my map app showed that it wasn't more than maybe 5 miles to finish the loop. I could knock that out in a couple of hours. Of course, that would have been true only if I pushed myself--and didn't stop for any photos or anything. Lies we tell ourselves!

Reflections of the canyon walls, stained with desert varnish.

There was water here and there in the canyon, but I was carrying plenty for my hike (which might argue that the idea of a longer hike was in my head all along, but it's also true that I *always* carry an abundance of water).

Primrose of some sort. 

There were quite a few flowers in the bottom of the canyon.

Prickly pear.

Not surprisingly, the Ancestral Puebloans also found White Canyon to be a pleasant place. I spotted only one area with a few ruins, but may well have missed others.

What with all the photographic distractions, and the reality that there isn't much of a trail, the walk between bridges took longer than I expected. Not that I minded. It was mostly cool and pleasant in the canyon, and any timelines for my day were arbitrary.

This reflection shot almost caused me to miss what was being reflected!

Approaching the Owachomo Bridge

Owachomo

At this point, I had to recognize that I needed to climb the several hundred feet back to the rim, and that it wasn't all that early (or cool) anymore.

Looking back at the somewhat hidden bridge.

The walk across the mesa top to return to the car, though much shorter than the canyon part of the hike, was still longer and warmer than I would have liked. I got there eventually, and made just one more stop before leaving the park. The third significant bridge is the Kachina Bridge, and I visited the overlook, resisting the temptation to hike down to the bottom ("oh, go on. It's not as far as the others...").

Kachina Bridge

Time to hit the road! I really wanted to stop and explore a small slot canyon my daughter told me about, but by the time I reached the area it was about 90 outside. No way. Onward to the north!

The canyon formerly known as Lake Powell. The white streak is the big RV area and boat ramp from Hite's Landing, now closed as the lake has receded out of site and the river is working hard to dig down through the yards of silt deposited while it was all under water.

Thanks for taking a look!

 

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 ©Rebecca M. Douglass, 2026 

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