To make the experience even more breathtaking, each natural bridge is accessed by a steep hike down to the base of the bridge and then back up again. Luckily, we hadn’t worn ourselves out with a workout yet that morning, so as we started down the trail to the first arch, called Sipapu Bridge, and arrived at the first rough-hewn Navajo-looking log ladder, we scampered down it full of vim and vigor. The trail to the Sipapu Bridge hugs a massive overhanging rock wall that Mother Nature has painted in wide swaths of black and orange and pink. It is hard to believe that the forces of wind and water have shaped these rocks, and as we hiked along in the soft sand in the shade of these cliffs, I couldn’t help but imagine the ancient people who once sought shelter here. What a surprise it was, then, in the midst of these musings, to look down and see bare footprints before us in the sand. It turned out they were footprints left behind by the new and popular “FiveFinger” shoes worn by Clockwise: Mark climbs down a rough hewn wooden ladder to Sipapu Bridge, Sipapu Bridge at Natural Bridges National Monument, Glen Canyon was formed by damming the Colorado River to form Lake Powell
the cliff dwellers from the Mesa Verde area 150 miles away in Colorado had called this place home around 1200 A.D. We got our workout once again as we huffed and puffed up the ladders and staircases back to the loop road, and then drove on to the next bridge, Owachomo, where once again we scrambled down to the base. In contrast to its two sister bridges, this bridge is thin and soars high into the air, looking quite delicate from a distance. Up close, however, it is a mas- sive structure as well, with trees growing under its foundation. Driving the eight-mile-long rim road around Natural Bridges, we got an over- view of the marvelous landscape of the area as well as great views of the three bridges. Many visitors to Natural Bridges skip the hiking part, but for us the high- light of this park was the four miles of walks through nature and the fun obsta- cle courses that we encountered as we hiked down to and up from each bridge. Back out on the Bicentennial Highway, we continued our road trip. As we watched
a hiker ahead of us. Sipapu Bridge is a grand sandstone arch that has the classic shape of an ordi- nary bridge. Although we were among a few dozen people who hiked to it on this particular day, the first American settler to come across it was Cass Hite when he was out searching for gold in 1883. After we admired the bridge for a while, we made our way back up along the striped rock wall to the wooden ladders and on up to the loop road that winds through the park. The second stone arch in the col- lection is Kachina Bridge and, just like Sipapu, it requires hiking down stairways that have been carved into the sandstone by the National Park Service and clam- bering down log ladders as well. Unlike Sipapu, however, Kachina is a thick and squat bridge that crosses a large cool wash filled with brilliant green shade trees. Along the flanks of this bridge we saw the faint etchings of petroglyphs that were pecked out of the rock eons ago. We were intrigued to learn that some of
12 COAST TO COAST SUMMER 2015
Made with FlippingBook Online newsletter