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Show 10 Recreation & Tourist Guide, May, 1986 Weekender tour Natural Bridges is unique spot By CHUCK ZEHNDER Managing editor Easily accessible and extremely pristine would normally be a contradiction in terms, but for Natural Bridges National Monument both terms are more than adequate descriptions of a unique area. Every year sees additional improvements at Natural Bridges and mesa top trails are better marked this year making hiking from one bridge parking lot to another much easier. Natural Bridges is the same distance from Price via Hanksville and the tennial Highway or through Moab and Blanding and then out on the Bicentennial Highway. The Blanding route is the most picturesque. The monument has the largest display of natural bridges of anywhere in the world. There are three huge spans of Cedar Mesa sand Bicen- stone, each spanning over 100 feet, two of them over 200 feet. Sipapu Bridge, the largest of the three, could contain the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. and still have room to spare above the Capitol Rotunda. There are also numerous prehistoric Anasazi ruins in the monument and some excellent Classic Pueblo period ruins stabilized in White Canyon along a hiking trail between Sipapu and Kachina bridges. There are some very good rock art panels in the canyon and three butterflies in can be found on the west side of Kachina Bridge. There are also some waddle and daub ruins in the same location. The visitor center at Natural Bridges has many interpretive displays, including a walkthrough display of the flora of the White Canyon region where the bridges are found. hs .. jJ&T'' V , ,!Sj Jf 5 jJ' V . i- I' 9 J. V 4fV w k 'S' Sipapu Bridge is the largest of the three major brides at Natural Bridges National Monument in San Juan County. The maps and brochures on the area are also available there, some free. The electric power supplying the monument comes from the worlds largest photovoltaic system. The huge panels of photovoltaic cells is just south of the visitor center and can be viewed from an elevated platform in the pinyon pine and juniper forest. There is a primitive campground just a few yards west of the visitor center which is used on a first come, first served basis. There are toilets available and each campsite has picnic benches and grills. Drinking water is not available at the campsite, but is available at the visitor center, reached either by road or a marked hiking trail through the forest. The trail also leads to an outdoor amBooks, ... ZA bar-beq- ' - - ' 'A' 1 A,M - - f&t ' MM' ' Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. would easily fit within the stone archway. the three major bridges. The first bridge one arrives at is Sipapu Bridge. There are really two view areas for the bridge and a trail leading to the bridge itself and another view area. Sipapu is large enough M v ; to accomodate the of the United States rotunda Capital building and spans more than 200 feet. A trail through the bottom of White Canyon leads from Sipapu to Kachina Bridge. Along the hiking trail is an Anasazi ruin known as Horse Collar Ruin. It is in excellent shape and offeres a view of a smaller stone bridge across the canyon. Photos by BobTruelsen However, the road above also leads to Kachina, the youngest of the three major stone bridges in the monument. The road travels on to Owachamo Bridge. Owachamo is a Navajo word mean stone pile, the name came from the large stone formation near the end of the bridges span. Owachomo is the longest and thinnest span. There are hiking trails both in the canyons and on the mesa tops inside the monument. Overlooks abound and offer the photographer spectacular views and settings. phitheater where rangers provide evening lectures and slide shows during the summer months. Evening trail hikes to the various bridges in the monument are also available during the summer and are led by rangers who give in- teresting and interpretive talks during the hikes. There is a blacktopped, one Kachina Bridge gets its name from the many petroglyphs on both sides of the stone bridge. lane road through the monument which covers about an eight-mil- e loop to each of Owachamo Bridge is the oldest and, therefore, thinnest of the bridges. It is only nine feet thick. |