Natural Bridges National Monument, UT

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A lesser known attraction but well worth the visit. Didn’t end up with enough time to hike the entire loop to see all 3 bridges from below but still managed to get in a few good hours of hiking and exploring. Check out the BLOG!


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Declared a National Monument in 1908, Utah’s first. Bridges are named in honour of the native Americans that once made this area home.

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Plenty of Scarlet Gilla here.

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You can also drive a 9 mile loop to stop and see all three bridges from view points but we preferred to hike to the bottom, time permitting. Here we’re climbing down the trail to the Sipapu Bridge.

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That’s the Sipapu Bridge from one of the upper viewpoints. We’re hiking down to the river bed to see it from that angle.

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Much more impressive from the bottom looking up. Sipapu means “the place of emergence,” an entryway by which the Hopi indians believe their ancestors came into this world.

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Hiking along the dry river bed, we’re hoping we can see some of the Indian cliff dwelling ruins from here.

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Stumbled on these pictographs of many, many hands in a cave along the bottom. My guide book says this could represent an important family or an inter-clan marriage.

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Either they were really tall or the sand floor in this cave was a lot higher back then.

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We were pleased to find one cliff dwelling, can you see it? I zoomed way in on it from the bottom.

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Dave’s pointing to where it is…just shows you the perspective. We were able to see the entire ruins from the overlook later on in the park.

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Enjoyed walking thru green stuff

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Climbing back up from the Sipapu Bridge

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At the ruins overlook

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See them?

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That’s the horse collar ruin along with a few other dwellings

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The Kachina bridge is named for the rock art on the bridge that resembles symbols commonly used on kachina dolls. We could see that from up at the view point and we ran out of time to hike to the bottom.

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This is the Owachomo bridge. It means “rock mound”, a feature atop the bridge’s east abutment. It’s difficult to see the bridge from this view point and in this landscape.

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There it is

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Just a short hike to the bottom of this one rewards you with a much better view.



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