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Bridges to the past

Geological, human history mix at Natural Bridges

NATURAL BRIDGES NATIONAL MONUMENT, Utah

About 270 million years ago, the bridges here were a figment of Earth's fantastical imagination. Crystalline quartz granules glistened on the sandy beach of an inland sea. The Colorado plateau rose, the waters receded, and the wind-blown deposit solidified into Cedar Mesa sandstone.

Watercourses tirelessly excavated. Stone walls confining incised, looping meanders were bombarded by grit and boulder-laden flood waters. Walls became fins. Battering away, insistent on a more efficient course, the river cut through solid rock, creating a young bridge. Hydraulic action enlarged the aperture. Erosional forces work unceasingly and periodically slabs exfoliate from the spans.

Owachomo, the eldest bridge at 50,000-60,000 years, could come crashing down at any moment. We are supremely fortunate to be sharing the planet with these soaring stone edifices.

Route: The counterclockwise loop links the bridges, two in White Canyon and one in Armstrong. A speedy mesa-top walk closes the loop. An optional two-mile side trip into Deer Canyon highly is recommended.

Sipapu Bridge: From the Sipapu Bridge Trailhead, 6,200 feet, descend a beautifully crafted stone staircase onto the sandstone rim of White Canyon. The downward path is marked with cut stairs and chunks of rock outlining the trail. Drop down a two-tiered metal staircase, then a sturdy wooden ladder onto a shady, north-facing bench where towering Douglas firs thrive.

At 0.3 miles, reach the Sipapu Bridge View spur. Pass a crumbling ruin with a thick coating of soot on the alcove ceiling. Walk to a high perch for an astonishing, unmatched view of the bridge. Sipapu is a substantial structure, arcing 220 feet above the canyon floor, spanning 268 feet. Its size is second only to Rainbow Bridge.

Prehistoric ancestors of the Hopi lived among the spans. Sipapu, place of emergence, refers to tribal creation mythology. The roll-off drop is deceptive so don't succumb to cliff-suck in your state of reverie.

At 0.8 miles, after 500 feet of elevation loss, the bridge soars directly overhead, locked in a straddle over its creator stream. While White Canyon usually flows innocuously, I have been caught here in a bridge-widening, thigh-deep flash flood, spell-bound and drenched as water poured off the bridge in sheets.

Cross the wash and follow the route downstream, capitalizing on trail fragments. Fremont cottonwoods, yellow- and red-twigged willows crowd the canyon floor. Grasses sail overhead. Scarlet gilia, firecracker penstemon and Indian paintbrush fervently splash dazzling color. Ferns and yellow-green columbine spill down seeps in alcoves.

Mule deer scatter tracks everywhere. Watch for evidence of an occasional bear, mountain lion and rattlesnake. Lizards are abundant. If you love birds, here's but a taste: dark-eyed junco, white-breasted nuthatch, great-horned owl, red-tailed hawk, golden eagle, falcon, canyon wren and dove.

Canyon walls are high and smooth, rolling on and on. Beauty entices, pulling you downcanyon. Mineralization has streaked the canvas, once a uniform creamy white, into an American abstract scintillating with blotches of red, orange, brown and desert varnish black.

Deer Canyon: At 1.6 miles, the tributary enters from the right. This is an optional out-and-back into a stunningly elemental canyon with immeasurable splendor and a plethora of obstacles. Earth's sculpting agents are here and little else: sand, stone, water and wind. Confined between constricted walls, walk on fluted bedrock. Crystalline clear water brims the depressions and flows down the sculptural floor.

In one mile, come to a small but troubling pouroff. There is no bypass, and our hike turns around here. However, I have straddled and stemmed the breech. Wondrous exploring continues upstream.

Return to the confluence at 3.6 miles and go downcanyon. In 0.2 miles, Horse Collar Ruin is visible on a ledge 150 feet above the wash on the right. The land of bridges sporadically has been occupied for 9,000 years. In 1060, the ancestral Puebloans arrived. They built masonry homes and granaries in south-facing alcoves. Artists and image writers, they pecked and painted their stories on walls and boulders. By 1285, the occupation was over; the people migrated south. Structures, ornate baskets and bowls, tools and weapons, corn, rock writing and burials were abandoned. Please leave everything that they left exactly as you find it.

To reach the ruin, climb a steep friction pitch. There are multiple rooms with wooden window and door lintels. Notice where fingers long ago pressed mud between stones. Continue along the bench to reach smooth-walled granaries. There are two well-preserved kivas at this site. Please, do not enter or touch the structures, and do not touch the rock art. A social trail leads back to the canyon floor.

Kachina Bridge: The youngest of the three bridges at 30,000 years, the third-largest on earth, Kachina is a whopping 93 feet thick. Walk under the bridge at 5.8 miles and immediately arrive at the confluence of White and Armstrong canyons. At this joining of canyons, coupled with the presence of a massive bridge, the sense of power is palpable. Bridge abutments are richly decorated with petroglyphs and pictographs. The name Kachina, Spirit Dancers, honors these images. Look for spirals, venomous snakes, geometrics, horned anthropomorphs, red and ocher handprints and bighorn sheep.

Leave White Canyon, turning left/south up Armstrong Canyon. Briefly, our route shares treadway with the 0.75-mile trail accessing Kachina Bridge from the road. The well-engineered track leaves the wash on the left and mounts stairs to a junction with the Owachomo trail in 0.15 mile. Turn right. The cairned route wanders out onto a sandstone bench that bypasses the elaborately scoured Kickpoint Pouroff.

The wash hooks sharply right at an unmistakable rock formation, The Shoe. Study the wall on the inside of the bend for spectacular rock art. You will see many anthropomorphs, one with a snake head; three large spirals; a double row of triangles; and a fertility image.

At 8.3 miles, the trail leaves the wash for good, climbing left onto a broad bench bypassing a series of barrier falls in Armstrong. In half a mile, Owachomo Bridge shyly and prettily comes into view as you round a shallow bend.

Owachomo Bridge: Reach the third bridge at 8.8 miles. It is the smallest bridge, yes, and perhaps the most poetic. Owachomo, rock mound, refers to a conical formation atop the southeast end of the bridge. Mount the cross-bedding that doubles as a grand staircase and the floor of the bridge-carving wash.

The thin and fragile ribbon of rock takes a dark slice out of the brilliant Utah-blue sky. Walk under the bridge and find a stairway of hewn stone that leads to the road, 0.2 miles distant.

Mesa-Top Trail: Cross the blacktop at 9 miles. It is but two miles to Sipapu parking. While people commonly plant a shuttle vehicle at the Owachomo Trailhead, I truly enjoy this segment. The north-trending, well-tracked trail is either a narrow thread bounded by cryptobiotic soil or a cairned corridor across sheets of sandstone. There are soft grade changes as stone drainages are crossed. Shade on the mesa consists of piñon-juniper rounded out with buffalo berry. On a warm day, you may wish to park at Owachomo and begin your hike on the mesa-top trail.

See debravanwinegarden.blogspot.com for further notes on human and natural history and the geology of this fascinating area.

Trail basics

Visit the world's finest congregation of three rare, enormous natural bridges. Witness the sculpting power of flowing water while walking through two gorgeous canyons. Archaeological sites add a historic, human dimension to this enchanting hike.

Travel: Blanding, Utah, is the last opportunity for fuel and provisions. Zero-out your trip meter at the flashing four-way stop. Go south on U.S. Highway 191 for 4.0 miles and turn right on Utah Highway 95. At mile 33.6 (mile marker 91.2), turn right on Utah Highway 275. The Visitor Center is on the right, 38 miles from Blanding. The park is 160 miles from Durango; allow three hours. Exit the Visitor Center and go right on Bridge View Drive. Park at the Sipapu Trailhead, 2.5 miles from the Visitor Center.

Campground: One of my favorites, 13 private sites are shaded by a piñon-juniper forest. For $10 per night, each has a fire grill, picnic table and tent pad. Fill your water bottles at the Visitor Center, the only potable water in the park. Campsites are first-come, first-served, so from May through September, arrive by mid-morning. Natural Bridges was the nation's first International Dark Sky Park.

Fees: Show your National Park Pass, or pay $6 per vehicle at the Visitor Center, open year-round. Dogs are not allowed on hiking trails.

Distance and Elevation Gain: The standard loop is 8.6 miles with 650 feet of climbing. The hike described here is 11 miles with 900 feet of gain.

Time: 6 to 7 hours for the 11-mile hike.

Difficulty: Well-signed but sporadic trail segments in wash; suspended stairway, wooden ladders and mild friction descent to Sipapu Bridge; sandstone scampering in Deer Canyon; navigation moderate; mild exposure on optional routes; streams are intermittent, so carry all the water you will need.

Maps: Moss Back Butte, Utah, 7.5 Quad; Trails Illustrated, Manti-La Sal National Forest, No. 703.



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