Friday, April 13, 2018

 4/12/18 Natural Bridges NP, UT -  60 degree day with blue skies, however, wind gusts to 40 miles an hour made the day a little challenging. The goal for the day was to hike 3 natural arches in the National Park.
First up was Sipapu Arch. It was a 1.5 mile hike descending 500 ft to the bottom. The hike included narrow passageways and three wooden ladders to descend.
The arch is 300 feet tall and the bridge part of the arch is 100 ft thick.
                                                            Off to a good start on our hike!

                                                              Steep right from the start



                                                         First ladder to descend



 While on the trail we discovered an arch in the making. Today it might only be 8 inches high, but in 100 million years who knows.

 The arch is so big it is impossible to get a picture that captures the entire arch from the bottom of the canyon.


Sore toe!!
                 The ascent up 500 ft. took some time and a couple of rest spots on the way.
                                                     Mark decided to take a short cut up.

                               Next up was Kachina Bridge. The hike was 1.4 miles and a 400 ft decent. This hike had many many steps and was the most difficult one of the day. By the time we got to this hike the winds really picked up with gusts to 40 miles per hour.



                             This picture gives great prospective on how big this thing is.

                                             Rocks that fell from the arch. Just not today!

                                                                 Cliff dweller ruins
Wendy's camera is awesome. This picture was taken from 300 ft. up the trail looking down on the ruins.

                        Owachomo Bridge - Last Bridge of the day was .6 mile hike and 220 ft. decent.This arch was the oldest of the three and near the end of its existence. Of course this could be another thousand or million years, who knows.
















1 comment:

  1. More neat sights--I hope we get a chance to head there some day ourselves. Looks like the weather is good for hiking still--wondering if it gets cold at night? BTW, Duluth is missing the big storm that is currently hitting Minnesota, but we will have waves of 12-16 feet throughout the day. I cancelled a trip to southern Minnesota this morning because of the blizzard/ice/snow happening down there. Stay warm where you are!

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