Owachomo Bridge
Owachomo Bridge
Erosion is a continuing, dynamic process; however, stream channels gradually change. The run-off from Tuwa no longer flows through the little canyon in front of you because there is now a deeper canyon on the other side of the bridge fin.
10CPassing the “Unmaintained Trail” sign isn’t like abandoning all hope, but it does mean that the trail may be harder to follow and that we don’t do as much to protect or help you. Some hikers continue from here and go all the way back to Sipapu via the canyon’s trail. Many people start at Sipapu and come out this way (which is a lot easier), but a few start here and go back. It isn’t really a terribly difficult hike, either way, and it is a lot of fun.
Owachomo must once have looked like Kachina—massive, solid, strong. Later, it was more like Sipapu—graceful and well balanced. Now it looks only like itself and the even more fragile Landscape Arch in Arches National Park.
At some time soon, one more grain will fall, a crack will race through the stone, and the bridge will be a heap of rubble in the canyon. We’ll probably run around and yell a lot when it happens, while the sand grains will quietly continue to break free and begin the next phase of their existence.
If you decide to walk on under the bridge, look behind the left abutment. There, a thin bed of the softer red stone has eroded back under the harder stuff of which the bridge is made. As erosion eats into the red-bed, removing support from the abutment, the future of the bridge becomes less and less secure. Frankly, we always feel a little nervous standing under it (where you are now) because it might collapse ... now!
As you return to your car, be aware that you may hear the death roar of Owachomo. The final, critical grain of sand may slip out of place, a bird may land on the bridge, or one of your military jets may pass at supersonic speed. However it happens, Owachomo must someday fall. And its billions of sand grains must continue their journey to another resting place, and that’s the way it ought to be.
To your right, across what appears as a fairly level stretch of pinyon-juniper forest, the Cedar Mesa sandstone is cut, slashed, incised, and divided by a bewildering complex of canyons. Slightly to the left of the “flats,” Maverick Point, Bears Ears, and long Elk Ridge (named by and for three cowboys with the initials E, L, and K, if you’d like another point of view!) form the skyline. Bears Ears, by the way, was named by Spanish explorers far to the south, from which point they look just like a bear peeking over the ridge.
If sunset is imminent, stay right here. Sunsets are sometimes very spectacular here.
Now go, and travel in peace, comfort and safety. Come again when the Canyon Country calls, if you can, but remember always that it remains here waiting, free, beautiful and untamed.
If you have questions about this magnificent land, stop at the Visitor Center. The men and women of the National Park Service will be greatly pleased to talk with you of this and the 300 other areas they serve for you and your children. And their children. And theirs.
Sunset Point
Sunset Point
Solar Photovoltaic Power System
Solar Photovoltaic Power System
Most of the electricity used in the Monument is produced by converting sunlight directly into electricity. The process seems a little bit like magic, but it really does work. The system here is a demonstration of the feasibility of supplying small, remotely located communities with electricity without using fossil fuels to produce it. This process is liable to become very widely used within a decade, so the Natural Bridges installation is sort of a peek into the future. Exhibits and information leaflet explain the system in detail.
Map showing national parks and monuments in the Four Corners region