Day 11 - Ride to Natural Bridges

Can it can get any better than this? I think we've said that every day and it just keeps getting better. Today we started off for Natural Bridges Monument National Park. Natural Bridges preserves some of the finest examples of natural stone architecture in the southwest. On a tree-covered mesa next to deep sandstone canyons, three natural bridges formed when meandering streams slowly cut through the canyon walls. In honor of the Native Americans that made this area their home, the bridges are named "Kachina," "Owachomo" and "Sipapu." We ate our lunch overlooking the Sipapu Natural Bridge.

Then Bill and I decided we wanted to hike down in the canyon to see the Sipapu bridge, while Lou, Denise & Bren decided they wanted to ride Lake Powell, Utah, to ride across the Colorado River. Denise reports they rode for many, many, many (you get the picture) miles before seeing another human or animal. Lou said that every turn was a different picture. The one gas station they stopped at had NO attendant. You had to pay the pump, credit card only and it was $4.79/gal.

Bill and Peg had some more awesome views as they hiked down the Sipapu Bridge trail. A moderately strenuous trail descending from the parking area along Bridge View Drive to the base of the bridge. The trail has ladders, stairs, switchbacks, and short steep sections of slickrock along its route. Sipapu is the largest and most spectacular of the three bridges in the Monument. It is considered middle aged, older than Kachina but younger than Owachomo. Its rounded opening and smooth sides are mute evidence of countless floods bearing scouring rocks and sand. This bridge, whose opening would almost house the dome of the United States Capitol, has taken thousands of years to form but will someday collapse and erode as part of the endless cycles of time and change.

We also hiked to see the Horsecollar Ruins. The Horsecollar Ruin Site is one of the best-preserved ancestral Puebloan sites in the area. Named because the doorways to two structures resemble horsecollars, the site was abandoned more than 700 years ago. Its remarkable state of preservation, including an undisturbed kiva with the original roof and interior, is likely due to the isolation of Natural Bridges: few visitors ever made the journey down these canyons.

The next small hike we took was to see the Owachomo Bridge. Owachomo is the smallest and thinnest of the three natural bridges and is commonly thought to be the oldest. We may never know for certain, as each of the bridges certainly have eroded at different rates. Regardless of its relative age, it is certainly the most fragile and elegant of the three spans, and an awe inspiring feature of erosion.

Then, as luck would have it, while Bill and I stopped for gas, who pulled in for gas but Lou, Denise & Brenda. We decided we need to make a grocery store run. Remember, there aren't any Walmarts in the area. So we drove about 3 miles and found a "small" grocery store. We won't starve from now til we get home.

Tomorrow, we pull up the jacks and head for Moab, Utah. We want to see Arches National Park. Talk to you tomorrow.