Monuments near Blanding

Blanding is a good homebase to visit a couple of National Monuments in the area. We visited Natural Bridge National Monument first. After visiting the busy national parks, it was great to see available parking spaces at a park and fewer people on the trails. Natural Bridges is a 9-mile drive with multiple stops to see 3 different bridges. 

There are several trails down into the canyon where you can walk under the bridges. We did several earlier hikes that day so we skipped those trails and just went to the observation points. The next day we met a woman with her arm in a sling who hurt it on one of these trails.

There is a question of the definition of an arch and a bridge. A natural bridge was formed by a current of water like a river while an arch is formed by erosion like wind  or freezing and thawing of water in the rocks. However, over time the bridge erosion from a stream may change to other erosion if the river gets smaller or disappears. The Natural Arch and Bridge Society (NABS) group them together in their rankings.

The first bridge is called Sipapu. Apparently there is controversy here. The sign at the park says the arch is 268’ wide and “one of the largest natural bridges in the world”. Wikipedia says a laser measurement in 2007 determined it is 255’ wide making it the 13th largest arch/bridge instead of the 4th largest if it was 268’. So…big bridge but not as big as the sign says.

Another bridge (Kachina) may be considered the 20th largest. The NABS only lists a top 19  so I don’t know about the “official” standing.

The Owachomo Bridge is the thinnest bridge. The park says that it may collapse soon or in centuries as it develops cracks and further erodes.

On another day we visited Hovenweep National Monument. The ruins here are built in the 1200’s surrounding a small canyon. The buildings were built over time. There are square, round, D-shaped, single story, and multiple story buildings here. I’ve decided that no one was scared of heights that lived here. I can’t imagine building or living in these structures. There are some ruins in the canyon, but most are above.

Some of the coolest ruins are the Hovenweep Castle,

the Square Tower,

  

and the Twin Towers.

The details on all of these were fascinating. I can’t imagine the work involved!