Natural Bridges National Monument covers a relatively small area in southeast Utah, close to scenic highway UT 95 between Hanksville and Blanding. It features three huge, stream-carved natural bridges as well as a concentration of Anasazi Indian ruins. The bridges are named Kachina, Owachomo and Sipapu. A natural bridge is formed through erosion by water flowing in the stream bed of the canyon. During periods of flash floods, particularly, the stream undercuts the walls of rock that separate the meanders of the stream, until the rock wall within the meander is undercut and the meander is cut off.

Owachomo Bridge

Owachomo Bridge

Kachina Bridge at NBNM

Sipapu Bridge at NBNM

Bears Ears (near NBNM)

Bears Ears (near NBNM)

Welcome to Natural Bridges National Monument

credit: dvs

Monument Valley is the most famous example of the classic American West landscape, located on the border of Arizona and Utah. Crimson mesas and surreal sandstone towers rise hundreds of feet into the air, some as tall as 1,000 feet. Valley’s rock formations are noteworthy mainly because they resemble animals or other familiar images (e.g., Bear, Rabbit, Stagecoach). Monument Valley is a Navajo Nation Tribal park and charges a fee of $5 per person for access to the loop road through the valley. The area is entirely within the Navajo Indian Reservation near the small Indian town of Goulding, established in 1923 as a trading post.

credit: Moyan Brenn

Rainbow Bridge is the largest natural bridge in the world at 290 feet (88 meters) tall and 270 feet (83 meters) across. The bridge has been formed by erosion of the sandstone by water flowing from Navajo Mountain towards the Colorado River. The bridge can be reached by a two-hour boat ride on Lake Powell from either of two marinas near Page, Arizona. It is located in one of the most rugged and remote regions of the United States, it was discovered in 1909 by an expedition that set out to find the great stone arch rumored by the Native Americans.

credit: Hansen, W.R.