On September 29, 2011, we drove a relatively short distance from Moab to Natural Bridges National Monument. It was a decide-as-you-travel kind of choice and we hadn’t checked in advance to see if we needed reservations. It turned out that the campground was full, but that really didn’t matter, since our small rig and car were too large for any of the camp sites. Fortunately, there was an area on Bureau of Land Management land just a few miles away that the park rangers recommended for “overflow” situations. Since we have a generator and had topped off on water, dry camping for a couple of days wasn’t an issue;
Natural Bridges is a U.S. National Monument located about 50 miles (80 km) north west of the Four Corners boundary of southeast Utah. The park has three very large water erosion caused natural bridges, named Kachina, Owachomo, and Sipapu (the largest), which are all Hopi names.
During periods of flash floods, particularly, the stream undercuts the walls of rock that separate the meanders (or “goosenecks”) of the stream, until the rock wall within the meander is undercut and the meander is cut off; the new stream bed then flows underneath the bridge. Eventually, as erosion and gravity enlarge the bridge’s opening, the bridge collapses under its own weight. There is evidence of at least two collapsed natural bridges within the Monument. (Information from Wikipedia.)
Selected Information Resources: Natural Bridges National Monument
- National Park Service
- Wikipedia
- Wikitravel
- The American Southwest
- Utah .com
- The Natural Arch and Bridge Society
I’m getting back to creating new videos from past trips, picking up in 2011 the day after we visited Island in the Sky in the Moab, Utah area. I’ll be adding new videos from our 2011 trip, but will also start adding material from previous trips.
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