We’ve heading up to the Natural Bridges National Monument today but first we have to climb the Moki Dugway. I put a Google picture and a picture of 2 RV’s on the road yesterday to show you a little bit about the road. It was built when Mexican Hat, at the bottom of Cedar Mesa, was an ore processing town and the ore mine, at the top of Cedar Mesa, was active. It truly was ‘dug’ out of the side of the Cedar Mesa cliff and rises 1000’ in 2.2 miles.
Built for ore trucks, it is nothing fancy, no guard rails, just gravel. However, they’ve put a 1’ high mound of dirt and rocks on the downhill side. Nothing big, just a little mound of dirt and stone. But, it’s amazing how comforting a small mound of dirt can be. How can anything bad happen when that mound of dirt is between you and the 1000’ drop below?
Then, ahead of us, we saw a 40’ RV plugging up the Dugway. Holy Toledo. And, why are we worried?
We passed them later in the climb and met them at the top of the Dugway. He drives everywhere with his RV and does not tow a car. Of course, he trades in his RV’s in with scratches and dings and lots of wear on the motor.
The rest of the trip, at the top of the Mesa, was a piece of cake. Natural Bridges National Monument has 3 large stone bridges, formed when water over millenia, surged through them and eroded them. Arches are formed by other natural forces, not water. There are smaller bridges in the park but these three are impressive. There is a trail which winds through the canyon and under all of the bridges. That’s our goal. A nice hike with a hat trick payoff.
These bridges were discovered by a prospector in 1883 and Theodore Roosevelt made them a National Monument in 1904, Utah’s first National Park area. Several names have been applied to the bridges, President, Senator and Representative (going from largest to smallest) and then Augusta, Caroline and Edwin. I’m thinking the final names chosen, Sipapu, Kachina and Owachomo, from the Hopi language, are infinitely better.
Since the cliff to the first bridge, Sipapu, is fairly steep, the Part Service has put in 3 ladders for the climb down. Gary told me to turn around for the picture and I’m hanging on for dear life.
The trail was a beautiful trail, winding alongside the river, sometimes beside it, sometimes through the sand bars but always in the deeply eroded canyon. Because this is fall, the creek did not have much water in it but there were places where there were fairly substantial pools. Luckily, there were trails around these pools. Because there was water, there was a lot of greenery, bushes, cottonwood trees and this section.
The bridges were spectacular and the hike was great. We even found some petroglyphs and pictographs and an old structure with art work around the walls inside.
Then, towards the end of the hike, way too far into the hike to turn back, we met this pool. I scouted around to see if there might be another way to get around it but the sheer cliffs were a ‘no.’ Gary tested it to see how deep it was and then we went across, not what we wanted to do (look at the color of the water) but better than turning around and retracing our steps.
Then, of course, there was the inevitable drying out and the squish, squish, squish as we finished our hike.
However, about the 8th mile, we were feeling a bit tired but still had not seen the 3rd arch. I rounded a corner, looked right and was about to express my dismay about not seeing the last arch when I looked to my left and saw this:
Whew, the last arch, Owachomo. Beautiful but it meant that we had only 2 miles to go back to the car. The Ranger had told us that the last 2 miles were ‘just’ a hike across the Mesa. What she didn’t say was that it went up over ridges and down into small valleys and then repeated this.
Then, there was the trip DOWN the Moki. Piece of cake. We flatlanders can do this. I wish we had been a bit earlier to get some of the earlier sunset pictures. But I did get this.
Were we tired? You bet. Did we have a great day? Absolutely. Will we have to dry out? See the picture of tomorrow.
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