Natural Bridges National Monument - Utah

Address:Lake Powell, Utah
Tel: (435) 692-1234

Breathtaking bridges are the main features of this southeastern Utah park. Horsecollar Ruin, so-called because the doorways to the structures resemble horse collars, was built by ancestral Puebloans more than 700 years ago and became another major attraction at Natural Bridges. Sipapu Bridge is the largest bridge, with its huge opening, and is thought to be the most spectacular of the monument's three bridges. A drive down Bridge View Drive is exactly what it sounds like - it provides great views of Kachina, Owachomo, and Sipapu Bridges.
Campers are welcome and can stay at one of the park's 13 campsites. Several remarkable hiking opportunities are available ranging from very easy to strenuous.

Natural Bridges protects some of the finest examples of ancient stone architecture in the southwest. Located on a tree-covered mesa cut by deep sandstone canyons, three natural bridges formed where meandering streams eroded the canyon walls. The bridges are named Kachina, Owachomo and Sipapu.
At 500 feet above sea level, Natural Bridges is home to a variety of plants and animals. Plants range from the fragile cryptobiotic soil crusts to remnant stands of Douglas-fir and ponderosa pine. Natural Bridges was established in 1908, making it the oldest National Park Service site in Utah.
Repeatedly occupied and abandoned during prehistoric times, Natural Bridges was first used during the Archaic period, from 7000 B.C. to A.D. 500. Only the rock art and stone tools left by hunter-gatherer groups reveal that humans lived here then. Around A.D. 700, ancestors of modern Puebloan people moved into the area to farm but later left as the environment changed.