Best of the Southwest – Canyonlands – Day 11 – Natural Bridges National Monument

As the sun came up over the San Juan Mountains to our east on Day 11 of our Southwest journey the world of stone below us seemed to sparkle in the morning light. Was it real? It seemed more like a painting. Before packing away our bedrolls and camping gear, Jimmy and I decided to go for a wake-up hike along the rim of Muley Twist before finishing off the last of the Moab peaches for breakfast. It was going to be another hot day in paradise.

While the air was clearer than any east coast sky we couldn’t help but notice the smoke. The entire West was on fire. There were eight major fires burning out of control. After almost twenty years of drought with below average rainfall in the West, our forests, parks, and brushlands have been turned into firetraps. And every summer the fire season starts earlier and lasts a bit longer. As a result, the skies that I remember, so crystal blue and almost shiny, are now perpetually filtered by a smoky haze. And you don’t have to be near a fire for it to affect the clarity of the sky. The prevailing winds can blow smoke into the Southwest from as far away as the Pacific Northwest or the Inter-mountain West, meaning a fire in a national forest in Idaho can bring a smoky haze to the Four Corners Region. During our stay in southeastern Utah, we were seeing smoke from a variety of western fires, primarily in Oregon. And while it didn’t smell like smoke, it still fouled the air. Welcome to the new normal.

CEDAR MESA

This land of pinyon-juniper and spacey slickrock canyons has the highest concentration of Anasazi ruins in the entire Southwest. The monkey boys and girls were everywhere from before the time of Christ until about 1300 AD. Why here? Because it provided everything they needed and desired within easy walking distance and was easy on the eyes. There were spacious sandstone overhangs to keep them sheltered from the weather; abundant springs and seeps; arable bottom land right below their high and dry homes; plentiful wood for fire; edible and medicinal plants in abundance; large and small game all around; and a wide variety of materials from which they could make clothing, tools, and weapons. It was not too hot and not too cold. It was just right.

GRAND GULCH

UT 261 is the access into Cedar Mesa’s Grand Gulch Primitive Area. Your first stop should always be the Cane Gulch Ranger Station. You need a permit to hike into this twisting maze of slot canyons and the Park Service takes their protection job very seriously. The rangers can provide you with the latest weather and road conditions. This is a place where you need to be very careful. It is very easy to get lost. And the roads are sand traps. In short, don’t go into Grand Gulch unless you are an experienced canyoneer, and even then, things can get tricky really, really fast.

BEARS EARS

The Bears Ears are two black buttes that look sort of like giant bears ears, perched above Natural Bridges National Monument. They are sacred to the Navajo, Ute, and Puebloan Indians. According to Navajo legend, the voluptuous Changing-Bear Maiden was conned by the trickster Coyote into marriage. Soon she started turning into a bear. The maiden’s two older brothers decided to quickly change her into something else before it was too late. So they killed her. Then they chopped off her ears and threw them away. And that’s where the Bears Ears buttes came from. As with many Navajo tales, the lesson is unclear. Killing your sister doesn’t really transform her into anything but dead. It’s just another story of men abusing unruly women, if you ask me.

But the real controversy surrounding Bears Ears is its National Monument status. President Obama made it America’s newest National Monument before he left office and that seriously pissed off many of the locals who felt that there was already too much federal land, of which the Bears Ears was a longstanding part, and WAY too many Monuments, which come with even more restrictions prohibiting things like mining and firewood cutting. So Trump’s new Interior Secretary recently recommended reducing the Monument’s size, while maintaining the Monument status for the area surrounding the Bears Ears. And then all hell broke loose. The locals rejoiced, and the enviros went ape shit.

After living in the Southwest for many years, I am ambivalent about the issue. President Obama created a Monument that stretched for hundreds of miles, encompassing thousands of acres of land – from Dead Horse State Park above Moab in the north, to Goosenecks State Park in the South. The rationale was to create a consistent management area encompassing a huge and diverse swath of federal lands that could be protected as one cohesive National Monument ecosystem. And that’s all well and good. But in a hardscrabble place inhabited by fairly belligerent Mormons just trying to scratch a living from an unforgiving landscape, it smacked of arrogant overreach. The land in question is not a vacation spot for these hardworking people, it is their home. And while they love the Bears Ears as much as the next person and do not oppose its designation as a National Monument, they see no reason why the government should essentially lock down a huge part of Utah in order to appease a bunch of people who have no idea where the Bears Ears National Monument is even located. And to be honest, I think they’re right.

NATURAL BRIDGES NM

Given its remote location, Natural Bridges is one of the most lightly visited parks in America. And that’s a shame because it is a real gem. The Visitor Center is outstanding and their gift shop is filled with interesting items. The park is very user friendly. Essentially, there are three large natural bridges that were made millions of years ago when long dried up creeks blasted them open – versus arches which are created by intrusions of water from above. And just for your viewing pleasure they throw in a few Anasazi ruins. You can just drive the 9-mile loop road and stop at the overlooks, or you can take the fairly short, but steep, trails to the bottom of White Canyon and stand under the spectacular behemoths. Interestingly, Sipapu Bridge has always been listed as the fourth largest natural Bridge in the world, measuring a gargantuan 240 feet, but the National Park Service recently got around to accurately measuring it with a laser and discovered that it was actually only 143 feet. Quite the error, even by Parkie standards. No matter, your two or three hour visit to Natural Bridges will make you eyes flutter and your heart sing.

Best Hikes

You can do the individual trails one at a time (see below), or you can just do the Loop Trail and see tall three of the main bridges all in one continuous circuit. This is the trail I always take, but you might not want to hike so far, or might not have enough time and would prefer to do them individually.

Loop Trail – The 8.6-mile (13.8 km) loop trail provides an excellent way to experience the wonders of all of the Natural Bridges. The full loop passes all three bridges, but you can also take shorter loops between the bridges. Join the loop trail at any of the bridge parking areas. If you want to hike the full loop, follow the trail up the left side of the canyon after passing Kachina Bridge in order to skirt the “Knickpoint” pour-off.

Sipapu Bridge – This is one of the largest natural bridge in the United States (Rainbow Bridge on Lake Powell which is not that far away is the largest). In Hopi mythology, a “sipapu” is a gateway through which souls may pass into the spirit world. The trail to the canyon bottom below Sipapu is the steepest in the park. A staircase and three wooden ladders aid in the descent. At the top of the stairway, notice the logs reaching out from the cliff wall to the large fir tree on the other side of the stairs. Early visitors to the park climbed down this tree to reach the canyon. At the base of the tree you can still see the remains of an earlier staircase. The ledge located halfway down the trail provides an excellent view of Sipapu Bridge. Please use caution around the cliff edges. The remaining portion of the trail leads down a series of switchbacks and ladders to the grove of Gambel oak beneath Sipapu. (1.2 miles – 1 hour)

Elevation change: 500 feet

Kachina Bridge – This is a massive bridge and is considered the “youngest” of the three in the park because of the thickness of its span. The relatively small size of its opening and its orientation make it difficult to see from the overlook. The pile of boulders under the far side of the bridge resulted from a rock fall in 1992, when approximately 4,000 tons of rock broke off the bridge. As you descend the switchbacks, notice the “Knickpoint” pour-off in Armstrong Canyon below and to your left. During floods, this spout sends a muddy red waterfall plunging into the pool below. The bridge is named for the Kachina dancers that play a central role in Hopi religious tradition. (1.4 miles – 1 hour)

Elevation change: 400 feet

Owachomo Bridge – The word means “rock mound” in Hopi, and is named after the rock formation on top of the southeast end of the bridge. From the overlook, the twin buttes called “The Bear’s Ears” (America’s newest National Monument) break the eastern horizon. The original road to Natural Bridges passed between these buttes, ending across the canyon from Owachomo Bridge at the original visitor center (which was a platform tent). The old trail still winds up the other side of the canyon, but is seldom used. Notice that Tuwa Creek no longer flows under Owachomo like it did for thousands of years. The bridge’s delicate form suggests that it is has eroded more quickly than the other bridges. (0.4 miles – 30 minutes)

Elevation change: 108 feet

1992 CRIME SCENE

A few miles west of Natural Bridges at the junction of UT 95, the Bicentennial Highway, and the turnoff to Hall’s Crossing (Lake Powell) is a popular spot used by the local police for DUI checkpoints. If you have an open container, and that would include an opened bottle of liquor or wine in your trunk, you are going to get hit with a $75 fine. They don’t take checks or credit cards. And if you can’t pay, they will haul your ass to jail in Monticello. I learned this lesson the hard way back in 1992, when I came upon the road block after almost dying in the Black Box in White Canyon, following a killer hike. I had just popped a beer with a lady friend from St. George and drove right into the trap. They popped me for five open containers – two open beers and three open bottles of booze in my cooler – $375. And then there was the weed. Amazingly enough, less than an ounce of weed was only a $350 fine in Utah in those days. But that left us $725 in the hole, and that’s where I ended up (I took the fall and they let my friend go free), until I got a bail bondsman to come from Moab the next day to cut me loose. Sometimes you gotta pay to play.

FRY CANYON

Sandy Johnson, a local lady, operated a sort of hippie/cowboy lodge in Fry Canyon about twenty miles from Natural Bridges when I was roaming around Canyon Country back in the Eighties. I always stopped there for a tasty meal and some good conversation whenever I was passing through. She had a few rundown motel rooms and a cafe where she served good eats and sold drinks and snacks. The sagebrush flat in front of the place was adorned with weird sculptures made from castoff construction materials like pipe and machinery. There was a pool table and there were usually a few locals hanging out. It was the only service stop between the San Juan Trading Post and Hanksville. In its heyday it was one of the uranium capitals of the United States. There was a temporary town there with over 3,000 miners, many of whom ultimately died from radiation exposure, and they served more beer in Fry Canyon than in Salt Lake City. It’s a broiling hot and windswept place. There was no electricity and water needed to be hauled in. In winter, it was a frigid ghost town. We had camped the night before at Muley Twist and hadn’t eaten a cooked meal since the Twin Rocks Cafe in Bluff the day before, and after hiking in Natural Bridges we were starved, but as we approached the old oasis, it was obvious the place wasn’t open. The sculptures were gone and the front door was open, swaying in the wind like a time port into the Twilight Zone. We stopped to snap a photo and pushed on.

WHITE CANYON

As you drive along the Bicentennial Highway heading west from Natural Bridges, White Canyon, the creek that created Natural Bridges is on your right all the way to Hite, a once booming boat launch run by the National Park Service concessionaire at the head of Lake Powell. There are numerous slot canyon hikes – some quite dangerous. And there are several very wild geologic monoliths, like the Cheesebox and Jacob’s Chair, dotting the surreal landscape. Take the time to stop and just take in the beauty of this remote area of America. And snap a photo at the Jetsons Bridge over the Colorado River. Look for the airplane landing strip on the left after the bridge. When Hite was rocking back in the eighties, there were small planes landing and taking off pretty regularly.

THE ROCKS SWIMMING HOLE

There’s a spot near the confluence of the Colorado River and the Dirty Devil River where a giant wedge of Navajo Sandstone squeezes UT 95 and creates a doorway effect. Over the years, at least three different car commercials have been filmed there. In 1981, on my first foray into this lonely part of the Colorado Plateau, I discovered a path by this spot that led down to the lake. There were a series of small islands stretching out into the lake, and I would wade and swim my way out to the end of the chain where there were shady alcoves and diving rocks. The lake was deep. I called my secret swimming hole the “diving rocks spa”. When we drove by on our way to Hanksville this time around, there was now a lake-bleached, white knobby mountain of rock with grass and bushes growing in front of it. It was 100 degrees and we were more than psyched to go for a cool swim, but alas, it was not to be. My favorite swimming spot was long gone. So we kept pushing on up the steep incline to Hog Springs, which as it turned out was also high and dry. Drought is slowly changing the face of the Southwest and even the monster dams can not stop the baking process.

HITE OVERLOOK

UT 95 climbs out of the Lake Powell basin and there’s an amazing overlook with a spectacular (and sad) view of a dried-up lake. Entire campgrounds where people used to swim and tie their boats are now a hundred feet up in the air and a mile from the lake. The headwaters of the lake are stagnant brown from the Dirty Devil River which is but a trickle. And the Colorado River is a mere shadow of its finer self. Hite still is in operation, but they had to build a new concrete ramp a couple hundred yards long so people can get their boats to the lake. Most people now access the upper end of Lake Foul at Hall’s Crossing or Bullfrog and Hite has the lonely feel of being the last outpost. After almost twenty years of drought in the Southwest, the brimming turquoise lakes and the azure blue skies are but a fleeting memory.

HANKSVILLE

Hanksville sits just to the north of the Henry Mountains. The Henry’s were the last mountain range in the lower forty-eight to be discovered and nearby Boulder was the last city to get mail delivery. It’s pretty much the back of beyond and about as far away from anything that you can get south of Alaska.

There isn’t a lot to see and do in Hanksville. The highway running through town serves as Main Street. There’s a funky Visitor Center/Medical Clinic combo by the intersection with UT 24, across from the Hollow Mountain gas station which is a must stop roadside attraction. There’s a small grocery store on the west end of town and a post office. There are two motels. And there’s Blondies for breakfast and Duke’s for lunch and dinner. Dukes also has a nice campground and rustic cabins. There a year round car repair shop about a mile out of town on UT 24. And that’s pretty much it. It’s a hot dusty place to bed down on the way to Capital Reef. I often called it the heart of nowhere. And nothing has changed.