Natural Bridges National Monument

Highlights

• Bridge View Drive

  Sensibly organized as a one-way loop, the paved 9-mile drive leads to overlooks and trailheads above the three bridges that are the park’s chief attractions. The easiest hike is to the last bridge, Owachomo. Whatever else you do, leave a little time at the end of the drive and walk the half-mile trail to stand under its massive span.

• Dark Skies

  Given its remote location, it’s no wonder the park has some of the world’s least light-polluted night skies. DarkSky International named Natural Bridges the world’s first “International Dark Sky Park” in 2007. Accordingly, park rangers not only give interpretive discussions on astronomy but also changed out the park’s light fixtures to reduce their own light pollution.

• History

  There is ample evidence that ancient people occupied this complex system of canyons from about 500 BC until around AD 1270. The earliest inhabitants probably lived in pit houses on the mesa tops, while the later Ancestral Puebloans built cliff dwellings that can still be seen today. They likely farmed up on the broad mesas, not in the narrow canyons. Cass Hite explored the region in 1883 while on a gold-prospecting sortie from his camp on the Colorado.

• Visitor Center

  At the Natural Bridges visitor center, you will find interpretive displays to introduce the area and describe the attractions of Bridge View Drive. An attractive (but spartan) 13-site campground here has no water, but campers can fetch up to five gallons per day from the visitor center. It has the only drinking water within the monument, so fill your water bottles here. It is also requested that you leave trailers here rather than pull them along the Bridge View Drive. Visitor center hours are seasonal.