Natural Bridges National Monument

Visited: May 2017

Nearby town: Blanding, UT

In this small Park located in southeastern Utah, you will find three incredible natural bridges that are all very close to each other. You can see all 3 of these bridges from overlooks by barely venturing out of your car, but you can also hike down to each of these bridges with relative ease.

Unfortunately, we didn't have a whole lot of time to see this Park (we saw many other places on this trip), but this is a cool stop and you can experience just about everything the Monument has to offer in a couple of hours or so.

Natural Bridges National Monument lies a few miles off the main road, Utah Highway 95. Make your first stop at the Visitor Center and then take the Bridge View Drive (it's a one way loop). Your first stop is Sipapu Bridge. You can view it from the road or take the trail down to the bottom of the canyon. It's only 1.4 miles one way, but with a 436 ft elevation change (one way) it's very steep!

We just checked it out from the top.

Sipapu Bridge has a height of 220 ft and a span of 225 ft, making it the 13th largest natural bridge in the entire world.

Further down the road, you can briefly stop at an overlook for the Horsecollar Ruin. This Ancestral Puebloan settlement was abandoned over 700 years ago. You can also take a short hike down to the ruins.

The next bridge is Kachina. Kachina has a height of 210 ft and a span of 204 ft. You can hike down to the Bridge as well, or just view from the road. Like the hike down to Sipapu Bridge, it is 1.4 miles and a steep elevation change. 

Although the terms natural bridge and natural arch are somewhat interchangeable, most geologists agree that a natural bridge is primarily formed by water, while a natural arch is formed by wind or other natural patterns.

A natural bridge is formed through erosion by water flowing in the stream bed of a canyon. The stream will undercut walls of rock (particularly during flash flooding), forming the bridge. At some point, as erosion continues to enlarge the bridge's opening, the bridge collapses under its own weight. There is evidence of at least two collapsed bridges in the Monument. And at some point, all three of these natural bridges will collapse as well.

The last bridge is Owachomo. The hike down to the bridge is only 0.5 miles round trip and a 188 ft elevation change. So, if there is one bridge to get out of the car and explore from some different angles, make it this one. Furthermore, it's kind of difficult to see the bridge from the road (at the time we visited, it really blended with the background). 

Owachomo Bridge is 106 ft tall and has a span of 180 ft. 

Compare with the view at the end of the trail...

The first non-Native Americans to see these bridges were a group of gold prospectors, led by Cass Hite, in 1883. In 1904, National Geographic wrote an article about the area that generated a lot of interest in this region. On April 16, 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt designated the area and established the state of Utah's very first national monument.

We'd love to go back and get up close and personal with the other bridges in this Park. Again, if you hike down to one bridge, the easiest one will be Owachomo at the end of the scenic drive. If you are in the area, be sure to find some time and take a couple of hours to explore this cool Monument. More info here: https://www.nps.gov/nabr/index.htm

Hovenweep National Monument

Visited: May 2017

Nearby town: Bluff, UT; Blanding, UT

In a desolate, windswept, and isolated corner of southeastern Utah, lies a hauntingly beautiful complex of ruins overlooking a lonely canyon.

Hovenweep (which means "deserted valley" in the Ute language) National Monument preserves and protects a number of Ancestral Puebloan villages scattered in Utah (and also some just across the border in Colorado).

I didn't know much about Hovenweep before our trip, but we were in the Four Corners area and decided to go a little out of our way to visit. I'm so glad we did. I was blown away by the ruins. They are very impressive, and I must admit they're also kind of spooky and eerie. This is an awesome setting, and is well worth a visit.

Evidence indicates that hunter-gatherers lived in this canyon as long as 10,000 years ago. The ruins you see in the monument were built by the Ancestral Puebloan around 1100 - 1300 AD. The Ancestral Puebloans also built the structures at nearby Mesa Verde National Park and Aztec Ruins National Monument.

The Ancestral Puebloans abandoned these villages around the end of the 13th century. It's not entirely known why they left, but it was probably a sustained drought. Evidence suggests that they moved further south, to the Rio Grande in present-day New Mexico, or the Gila River in Arizona.

The villages sat abandoned for hundreds and hundreds of years. In 1854, William D. Huntington, a Mormon missionary, discovered the ruins at Hovenweep. His Ute and Navajo guides knew about the ruins, and believed they were haunted, and urged Huntington to stay away. As interest grew in these mysterious and awe-inspiring ruins, Hovenweep National Monument was created on March 2, 1923.

There are six (6) groups of ruins that one can visit: Square Tower, Cajon, Cutthroat Castle, Goodman Point, Holly Group, and Hackberry and Horseshoe Group. The most extensive, most visited, and most accessible is the Square Tower Group. The other 5 can be accessed either by hiking trail, or by roads, but the roads are not well-maintained and require all-wheel drive and high clearance, etc.

We only visited the Square Tower, but that alone is worth the trip. As always, the first stop is the Visitor Center to learn all about the ruins and the people who lived there. Then take the loop trail (it's about 2 miles) to explore. We pretty much had the place to ourselves. That made it very special.

The first prominent structure on the loop trail are The Twin Towers on the opposite side of the canyon. I really liked this ruin. Very neat and unique.

At its peak, Hovenweep was home to about 500 people. The buildings here served a variety of purposes: tool and grinding work areas, kivas for spiritual and ritual functions, residential rooms, and storage. Crops grown here included maize (corn), amaranth, beans, squash, and cotton.

this "covered" house built into the rock was very cool and unique

Little Ruin Canyon

The trail offers spectacular views of Sleeping Ute Mountain, which looms on the horizon.

Now comes the largest building in the group: Hovenweep Castle. The slots and doors of the Castle act as a solar calendar. The building is aligned so that light channels through those openings in predictable and distinct patterns at sunset on summer and winter solstice, as well as vernal and autumnal equinox.

Another great ruin to check out is the Square Tower down in the canyon.

Take your time as you wander and wonder.

this is my favorite shot

Hovenweep exceeded my expectations big time. For more info: https://www.nps.gov/hove/index.htm