It’s
early spring and that means time to go do some canyon hiking to look
for ruins and rock art.
Base Camp
So, about ten days ago, my friend Alan and I headed down to Natural Bridges National Monument for a couple of days. We set up a base camp on Cedar Mesa at a spot I’ve used often, with a view of the Bears Ears.
Camp for the weekend, the Bears Ears in background
Day One, Kachina to Owachomo
From there, we left the next couple of mornings to go hike the canyons on Natural Bridges. The first day we went in via the Kachina bridge trail and exited via Owachomo then road walked back to the Jeep.
Pictures from day one.
Kachina Bridge
Some of the petroglyphs under the bridge
One of several ruins found throughout the day
Alan on the trail
Me on the trail
This one is known as Remnant Ruin
Kitty cat track on top of my foot print after visiting Remnant
A very well preserved structure
Alan looking at a nice rock art panel up on a ledge
Closer view of pictographs
Owachomo Bridge
A super well preserved granary on a high ledge that took us quite a while to climb up to
The original roof is still completely intact
Interior ceiling, yucca cordage at least 700 years old still looks great
Back at camp we enjoyed some fabulous steaks with sauteed peppers, mushrooms and onion around a nice little campfire.
Alan by campfire
Day Two, Sipapu
The next day, we were back, goin in via Sipapu this time.
Sipapu Bridge
We hiked a long way on this day, over 15 miles, but the payoff was that we got into a lot of cool stuff.
Nice ruins
T shaped doorway ruin
A closer look at the T shaped door
Inaccessible high ledge ruins
Cool petroglyph
This was a dwelling, see fire blacked ceiling at back of alcove
There wasn’t much of a trail to follow in this canyon
Centipede petroglyph?
Super cool granaries
Nice little cluster of well preserved granaries
Double deck granary with door stone in place
I love the combination of stacked stond with mortar ground level and second level of jackal construction on these
The White Man Panel
These are about three feet tall
A kiva
Granaries
Another kiva and adjacent dwelling
A really well done petroglyph hand print
Reverse hand print pictographs
An artifact “collection” – not my doing – it’s poor form, please don’t do it
Granaries
All Good Things Must Come To An End
And so
the weekend went! Too quickly! It was really nice to get out and
get some fresh air and exercise. Can’t wait to do it again!
Summary
Article Name
Natural Bridges National Monument
Description
Weekend hiking trip in the canyons of Natural Bridges National Monument.
Author
Dave Affleck
Publisher Name
Coyotestuff.com
Publisher Logo
2 thoughts on “Natural Bridges”
Hey Dave,,,,, Super Cool-Chit, very Good Photo Work,,,,, as always, and as I’ve said,,,,, I like your style. 🙂
BD in Alaska……
Hey Dave,,,,, Super Cool-Chit, very Good Photo Work,,,,, as always, and as I’ve said,,,,, I like your style. 🙂
BD in Alaska……
Thanks Brad – appreciate it!