More Travels 4-Bridging the Gaps

Bridging the Gaps

Ruins hold mysteries of an ancient way of life in the canyons.

Butler Wash was a gorgeous uphill walk into a secluded canyon. There on the opposite canyon wall we could see ruins of an ancient village. Water seeped down the sandstone cliff into the tree-lined canyon below. The place where we stood on an expansive flat of potted Navajo sandstone could have offered a community patio for grinding corn or mending yucca sandals. A perfect world... until I considered the worn-down teeth from eating bread laced with grains of sand or painful arthritis from sitting on cold stone slabs to prepare dinner.

From Route #95 on the way to Natural Bridges National
Monument, the valley opened in an inspiring panorama.

Route #95 cut through red sandstone cliffs on the way to Natural Bridges National Monument. The car said 59 degrees, but it felt warmer than that in the bright sunshine.

Mule Canyon residents live above the
canyon rim on the mesa. but tunnels
connect dwelling rooms with ceremonial
kivas and a two-story tower.

The ancient residents of Mule Canyon lived on top of the mesa in a ten-room complex with a large ceremonial kiva and a two-story tower, all connected by tunnels.

Sipapu Bridge arches over a small
stream that flows in the
bottom of the canyon.

Amazingly well preserved and skillfully crafted, the stone walls tell the story of the past Puebloans who lived here in the 1200's, but the remaining ruins still hold many mysteries.

Gamble oaks and cottonwood trees line the canyon bottom
under the Sipapu Bridge, a place of spiritual significance
for the Ancestral Puebloans and the modern Hopi.

Natural bridges are all formed through the action of stream erosion.

The trail to Sipapu Bridge descends in a narrow, rock strewn
path with beautiful views of the valley below.

Sipapu Bridge, so named because it represents "a place of emergence," was carved by nature from the Cedar Mesa sandstone. It was the first of three natural bridges in Natural Bridges National Monument that we planned to visit. The .6-mile one-way trail descended down the cliff face for 500 feet. A strenuous scale, it passed by a puebloan kiva with a sipapu that overlooked the massive natural bridge, second largest in the world. Stairs, stone steps, switchbacks and ladders took us right under the 268-foot wide bridge that spans a creek bed.
 Horse Collar Ruin Overlook trail led visitors .3 miles one way to White Canyon with cliff dweller ruins. The two uniquely shaped doorways in the granaries gave the ruin its name. Here we met Don and Alice (DNA) from Santa Fe.
Kachina Bridge was .75-mile one way to the bridge and another .1-mile one way to the overlook. I counted 564 steps climbing back up, a strenuous workout at 6,505 feet.

At Kachina Bridge Overlook we pause to survey the
hike ahead of us down to the base of the bridge.

But the trail was more developed and less washed out by the recent storm than the one to Sipapu Bridge. Kachina Bridge is considered the "youngest" of the three in the Monument because of the thickness of its span. It is still growing.

Oldest bridge in the monument, Owachoma Bridge shows
the stress of time, even though it may last for centuries.

Owachoma Bridge, which means rock mound in Hopi, at 180 feet wide, is the oldest and is now carved only by rain, frost and sandblast. It may already have a fatal crack, according to the pamphlet, but from underneath we couldn't see any problems. If thickness determines age, Owachoma was ancient. It measures only nine feet thick at the top. Sipapu is 53 feet, and Kachina is 93 feet. We hiked the .3-mile one-way trail to the bottom, where gamble oaks and cottonwoods shade the ground and whisper in the breeze. But at more than 6,500 feet in elevation, I've had plenty of exercise for today."Want to try one more?" asked Andy, as he headed toward the town of Mexican Hat. "I could try the turnoff to Muley Point. It's dirt, but it looks dry."
"Sure, why not," I answered, remembering I had been here before and praying it wasn't another hike. We stopped twice for panoramic vistas of the Colorado Plateau, Monument Valley and the San Juan River valley. The view was utterly stupendous. I sat down to breathe it all in.

Not a cloud in the sky, visibility at Muley Point stretched
for miles in every direction.

Back at the car, I met a couple from south of Albany, New York. I told them about our last visit about five years ago to this very spot on the rock ledge high above the wilderness. Then we had met a newly married older couple sitting in cloth chairs at a small portable table, sipping champagne from flutes and watching the sun set.  Their two-man tent was pitched nearby. Utterly romantic, but probably not too comfortable!

At sunset, the Mexican
Hat rock marks the
entrance to the town. 

We followed the Moki Dugway down the mountain, a 2.2 gravel road with switchbacks and a ten percent grade. "Do you know what a dugway is?" asked Andy.
Without waiting for a reply, he continued, "It's a road cut from the top of a mountain by a bulldozer, and the operator pushes the cut dirt over the sides."Not very scientific but effective, I'd say.Andy said he thought Mexican Hat, Utah, so named for the gigantic sombrero-shaped rock outside of town, was the smallest town he had ever stayed in. Its population is 100 people with three motels, one gas station and four restaurants. Two of the restaurants are currently closed. Andy could very well be right.