Natural Bridges National Monument

This is an absolute hidden gem. I hiked every trail and was about deceased by the final hike at the last bridge. Absolutely gorgeous all around. Pictures do it no justice, but I have attached some. Definitely check it out. We did Arches and Canyonlands before this and I have to say this was slightly better ino my opinion. Less crowded too.

We came here during the shutdown, so cannot comment on the facilities - other than the bathroom, which was pretty darn awesome and the wifi that helped by geocaching compulsion - awesome. The trails here are well maintained and lead to one wow after another. The road around the monument, likewise, leads from one view to another - each just as spectacular as the one prior. Stunning views!

We detoured the main US163-191 road visiting the Valley of the Gods first, and further north on local roads Natural Bridges Monument. After passing the entry gates there's a one way loop to drive. There're 3 natural bridges to visit - all pretty close to parking lots. It was a great intro to Arches NP we visited the next day

I am so thankful that I added Natural Bridges National Monument to our itinerary! What a beautiful drive. We were not able to hike to any of the bridges (health issues), but we could see all of the three main bridges from the parking area and overlooks. The Visitor's Center was closed due to the government shutdown, but the area is well marked and easily navigated, even without a map available. The loop is an easy, laid back drive with parking areas for each bridge. I don't know if it is the time of year or that we visited on a weekday (Friday, mid-October) but there were very few people there. A nice respite from the usual crowds at the National Parks. Highly recommend making time for this gem, and hiking the trails to the bridges if you're able.

I never heard of this place until very recently. It's off the beaten trail but well worth the visit. There are overlooks for the three bridges, but if one wants to hike, there are trails going all the way to the bottom of the canyon.

Went during the offseason and saw only five other people. Beautiful landscapes and amazing natural bridges. Most are very easy to hike to.

This is a beautiful park, and the hike to the bridges is well worth it. Great roads and well marked trails. The visitor center was closed, but the bathrooms were accessible and very nice.

If you’ve visited Monument Valley and Valley of the Gods and still have extra time, make the drive to Natural Bridges National Monument (and don’t let the Moki Dugway scare you off). The arched bridges are beautiful, and the most bang for the buck comes from making the short trek down to Owachomo, the last bridge along the one-way visitor loop. The entire landscape is magnificent, and there are multiple areas to enjoy scenic-vista walks, picnics, and minor hikes.

Sneaky cool national monument. Grounds are well maintained. Beautiful scenery. Well done interpretative content. Enthusiastic rangers and nice junior ranger program. Campsites are nice but no running water. A place worth checking out.

Kachina Bridge Trail was a ~1.3 miles round trip. Unfortunately, unable to complete this time due to the trail on the edge of the canyon with several feet of snow. Wait until the snow melts to safely attempt this hike. Short video of the Kachina hike! https://youtu.be/vBVbbXvB_eA Owachomo Bridge Trail was a ~0.7 miles round trip that took ~30 mins to complete. This was the easiest natural bridges trail out of the three to reach the bottom! Short video of the Owachomo hike! https://youtu.be/RjqDtFMNbVY Beautiful views of both Kachina and Owachomo Bridge!

One of the most highly underrated national park sites in Utah. I visited in March and while the visitors center was not open, I didn't mind. I had the whole park to myself. There are three main natural bridges to view. They are all stunning and you can do shorter hikes to view closer the bridges without going to the base of them if you're short on time. Several great overlooks as well. The park was clean and it was cool to see the ancient ruins as well. It's in the middle of nowhere but worth a detour!

We enjoyed seeing the natural bridges of this park. There is hiking and a scenic drive for this park. We just did the drive. You need to walk along sidewalks to see the different bridges. The visitor center was smaller but the rangers were very helpful with information. We have a national monument stamp book and told us the location for Bears Ears national monument stamp. There is no visitor center for this one. We did get our stamp fir natural bridges. It is a very beautiful park.

This was a very cool park. The bridges were spectacular! There is hiking here and also a scenic loop. We did the scenic loop. They have a small visitor center with a gift shop. We did get a good map on where to get the Bears Ears National Monument stamp. You can also get the Bridges stamp here of course. We enjoyed the drive. There are sidewalks to walk on to see the different natural bridges. I think we did the park in about 2 hours.

I really liked Natural Bridges National Monument. I spent 1 full day exploring the main highlights of this park...which are (forget about the pointless overlooks, you can't see anything from them) hiking relatively short paths to all 3 bridges featured here. I'm surprised. It's $20 entrance fee per vehicle, yet since because of the pandemic...the Visitor's Center was closed when I visited last month in September. There was no one collecting fees. So...for right now until things are back to normal...it's free to get in. Navigating around Natural Bridges NM was very straightforward. Once I entered...there was the Visitor's Center...but, good thing...they did leave stamped pieces of paper outside for people's Parks Passports, lol. Also, the restrooms were in working order. From the Visitor's Center...I simply drove the 9-mile paved loop road. That's it...it's that easy! And along the loop I came upon all 3 entrances for access to all 3 bridges. So...I just took my time. There were hardly any tourists around when I explored. It was very peaceful and quiet and I appreciated that aspect. The 1st bridge was called, Sipapu. This was the largest of the bridges at 220 feet high. Sipapu was my 2nd favorite of the 3. Hiking the trail to get a closer look at it was quite adventurous including a few switchbacks and some embedded staircases and handrails within the rocks. Although arriving at the base was maybe the most difficult of all 3 hikes...I appreciated this journey the most. Before making my way to the base of Sipapu...there was the perfect area to photograph Sipapu in all it's free standing glory where I grabbed some terrific photos! It was at this moment that I knew I was going to enjoy my time here at Natural Bridges NM! At the base of the bridge, pictures were hard to attain so I definitely recommend being on the lookout for the area just before getting to the bottom. Just down the road was the next bridge called, Kachina Bridge. This was 210 feet high. The trail here was easier to navigate but definitely less dramatic than Sipapu. Unfortunately, Kachina Bridge was my least favorite. But no big deal, it was still relatively pleasant to view regardless. When I arrived at the base of Kachina Bridge...it was extremely hard to photograph as the entire structure was just situated right on top of me. With it being during middle of the day...the sun played a part in that I was looking straight up at it. Ah, but...to no avail, I still managed to find a spot where I was far enough away from Kachina to be able to photograph it in it's entirety... There'll be a grassy/sort of dirty/patchy rock which I climbed on. Look for it. It's not difficult to get on top of. Once you hop on it...then walk along the rock as far as possible until you come to the end of it. You'll understand this when you're there... If you do this...then you'll be able to photograph Kachina entirely with along (if you care)...putting yourself in the picture as well! Although I wasn't totally impressed with Kachina in the end, at least I felt happy that I was able to maneuver around and make adjustments to afford myself a moment to photograph it. Finally, the last bridge was Owachoma Bridge. This was the smallest bridge at 106 feet high but...it was absolutely the most accessible and visited bridge in the park. Without a doubt...Owachoma was the most popular and my favorite of all 3, for sure! Hiking to get here was quite simple....literally just down a pathway and I was there. Owachomo Bridge certainly impressed me the most. It's 1 long/thin bridge...and if anyone has visited Arches National Park...it very much reminded me of Landscape Arch. In fact, Natural Bridges NM (in total) reminded me of a miniature version of Arches. Though I know some people will say there's a big difference between bridges and arches. To me...they were similar. Before getting as close as possible to Owachoma Bridge...I stepped off the trail and found a nice little secluded spot where I was able to snap terrific pictures of it without any disruptions. Plus, I was able to fit myself in the pics showing how gratifying it felt to be here. Yes...my pictures at Owachomo Bridge have gone on my Instagram page already, hehehe. I definitely spent the most time here at Owachomo Bridge. For me, this was the pinnacle of Natural Bridges NM...sort of saving the best for last, lol. In all, by this time it was afternoon around 4pm. Overall, I had spent roughly 7-8 hours hanging out and exploring the park. Although some people would say you only need just a couple hours or half a day here...I'm glad I took my time and used a full day. I felt blessed and a sense of fulfillment to witness these extraordinary bridges...taking my time immersing myself in it all. Finally, the best thing about Natural Bridges NM is that it's located relatively near other worthwhile attractions in Southeastern Utah including Valley of the Gods, Moki Dugway, Muley Point and Goosenecks State Park.

Natural Bridges National Monument is home to three of the largest natural stone bridges in the world. This national park in Southern Utah is one of the smaller ones but worth a visit for beautiful views of these sandstone bridges. Please note that Natural Bridges National Monument is currently closed due to covid 19, until further notice. My husband, our little girl dog and I came here on a Tuesday, at the end of last month. Dogs are allowed on paved roads and trails. At this park, there are about 9 trails here, with the hike to Owachomo bridge being the shortest (~1/2 mile round trip). But for those that do not wish to do much hiking, you can drive the 9 mile scenic loop and stop at the overlooks for each bridge (Sipapu, Kachina, Owachomo) and enjoy the birds eye views. You can also see Bear Ear National Monument from this park. Former President Obama actually decided to put Bear Ear National Monument on the map in 2016. This was named for a pair of buttes that resume the top of a bear's head. Buttes are tall, flat topped, steep sided towers of rocks. Buttes are created naturally through erosion that can occur via wind, water, ice and/ or water. Buttes are similar to plateaus, but have a slightly different structure. Please note that there is very little shade and is mostly just sun. So be sure to bring a hat to shade your face, wear sunblock and bring water to hydrate yourself. There is also a campground on site in case you wish to camp here. Entrance fee is $20 per car.

We visited Canyonlands Needles District, and since we were so close anyway, decided to add this into the day, as well as Bear Ears National Monument. Unbeknownst to me at the time, our "great" president reduced that NM by 85% in order to allow some rich people to get richer. But that's another story. Natural Bridges NM is worth the time, especially if you enjoy nature without a crap ton of people around. We arrived later in the day so we weren't able to do any hiking, but we took the one-way road through and stopped at each pull out. We enjoyed the scenery as well as the deer that were along the road. I wish we had had more time to explore!

Spectacularly underrated. It is Utah's first National Monument, yet overshadowed by more famous neighbors like Capitol Reef and Zion. It's ancient sandstone, back when Utah was oceanic, during the Permian age. Time and water (especially the Colorado River) have been simultaneously creative and destructive. The entrance fee is $20 per vehicle, but the views are timeless. One can hike to see all 3 natural bridges etched in the sandstone, or you can drive the scenic loop. Kachina, Owachomo, and Kachina are both breathtaking, and in their own way, delicate. One can also see the ancient Horsecollar Ruin, built within the canyon. Utah's first National Monument, not to be missed! An awe-inspiring place.

One of the smaller National Parks/Monuments in Southern Utah. The easiest trail was going down to the Owachomo Bridge. You can see this bridge from the top, and you can enjoy being under the bridge. Since there's not much shaded places until you reach the bottom of the trail, make sure you wear hat, use sunblock and drink and bring enough water. We started to go down on the Sipapu Bridge trail, but decided not to go all the way down. About the halfway point was the nice shaded lookout to be able to walk around and look at this bridge closer. We saw the Kachina Bridge only from the top and didn't go on the trail. Going around this place is very simple. You just have to follow a two-mile loop road to visit three natural bridges just beyond the visitor center. There was no check point at the entrance unlike other parks and monuments. Cynic in me was wondering if some people would just start driving the loop instead of paying entrance fees at the visitor center...

This is an interesting smaller national monument. There are 3 natural bridges and numerous ruins but we had only time to hike to one and it was the Owachomo bridge. Quite spectacular, and will be back sometime to see the other 2 bridges which are longer and taller. In a rush as usual we missed the Sipapu which is the largest and most spectacular of the three bridges in the Monument. We picked the Owachomo because it is the shortest hike and this was bonus visit because we did not plan to stop here.

The Four Corners region (Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah) provides a wealth of outdoor activity. Natural Bridges National Monument, about 35 miles west of Blanding in southeast Utah, may be a bit off the beaten path but it shouldn't be overlooked. One reason is that you won't have to drive even one dirt road to get there, so the drive will be scenic, pleasant and you won't get your car dirty. Of course, the main reason to go is for the beautiful scenery, including the natural stone bridges and the ruins. I can sit for hours just looking at Owachomo Bridge. The hike to it from the paved parking area is relatively easy and the payoff is worth it. The bridge has great posture with a flat horizontal top surface that tempts you to walk across it, but I enjoy resting below it in the pastorale setting while sipping hot coffee and eating a snack. There is an elegance and calm at Natural Bridges that is not really found in other parts of Utah's rough-and-tumble outdoor experiences. Hiking trails offer great opportunities to get up close to the ruins and underneath the Sipapu and Kachina bridges. I hope that I can make repeated visits to this out-of-the-way place so I can fall further under its charms.

Well worth the drive over from anywhere! Awesome views and hikes give you the ability to get up and close to some of the largest land bridges in the world. We hiked to all 3 of the bridges and was wowed by the size and expanse of them. Pack a lunch and plenty of fluids and enjoy the time there. Use your National Park pass and enjoy this off the beaten path location!

NATURAL BRIDGES NATIONAL MONUMENT resides in the highest and most rarefied of the upper echelons of great landscape scenery in the United States of America. On the other hand, this park is relatively small, and it is only a "National Monument" and not a "National Park," and perhaps for these reasons Natural Bridges National Monument is not crowded with thousands of tourists, screaming children, barking dogs, teenagers busy ignoring the scenery and taking selfies instead, and long lines women at the ladies' room. Natural Bridges is located at the intersection of Route 95, which leads to Blanding to the east, and Route 276 which leads to Glen Canyon to the east. Branching off from Route 95 is Route 261, which conveniently leads to Mexican Hat, and from there to Goosenecks State Park and Monument Valley. Did I say "convenient"? NOT!!! Route 261 has a region called Moki Dugway, which takes the form of many sharp switchbacks and hugs the side of a steep cliff. The Moki Dugway road is one of the scariest road trips in America. Thus, I recommend avoiding Route 261, and taking Route 95 via Blanding. To quote from a website called "dangerousroads" dot org, "The Mokee (or Moki) Dugway, located on Utah Route 261 just north of Mexican Hat, Utah is a staggering, graded dirt switchback road carved into the face of the cliff edge of Cedar Mesa. It consists of 3 miles of steep, unpaved, but well graded switchbacks (11% grade), which wind 1,200 feet from Cedar Mesa to the valley floor near Valley of the Gods." Once you arrive at Natural Bridges, the busy tourist will be pleased that the roads in this park are simple. There is a loop road, called Bridge View Drive, which is roughly two miles in diameter. Several trailheads reside along this road, and the casual tourist can easily hike along these trails, passing an occasional Indian ruin and eventually reaching the bottom of the canyon. Natural Bridges National Monument has an excellent gift shop with books and souvenirs. But the real star, of course, are the natural bridges. These are KACHINA BRIDGE, OWACHOMO BRIDGE, and SIPAPU BRIDGE. The cliffs that border the canyon are fascinating in that they have a naturally-occurring patterns of stripes, as you can see from my photographs.

What an incredible place! The rangers at the Visitor Center told us everything we needed to know about all the hikes, and the park has excellent signage all along the driving path. Spectacular beauty with accessible walkways and overlooks, coupled with serious hiking opportunities (carry lots of water, please) make for a fantastic visit.

Utah's first national park is not as well known or as visited as many others - probably because it is a long drive from almost any direction to get to and basically only offers views and hikes to three natural bridges. The visitor center is closed.

"Off the beaten path" is one way to describe National Bridges National Monument. A long drive in the middle of NOWHERE is a place where not many tourist get an opportunity to explore. Many of the main bridges are a short hike away from the paved parking lots. I found the footing on these short trails to be a bit shaky so be sure to wear shoes and avoid sandals. From a distance it is tough to see the actual bridges because they blend-in so well with the other rock formations but when you get closer to them they'll appear almost out of nothing. Kind of reminds me of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Main difference is there are no Nazi's in tanks trying to beat you to the holy grail. There are optional trails that link many of the bridges together but be prepared to hack through the brush. Overall a great experience and if you choose to cross one of these bridges you won't have to pay a toll :)

Natural bridges is a natural world show stopper! Surrounded by sandstone formations. Stop by all means and hike down below "Sipapu," an immense rock opening and bridge that fits a 27 story wide by 22 story tall sky scrapper, like downtown Portland, OR. Fill your SD card and smart phone with pics from all different angles along the trails leading into the lush valley with a stream running though. Fun trail. Steep here and there. Technical a little with wood ladders to climb up and down. Good adventure for anyone with a pulse! How does one place have not 1 but 3 immense bridges? Other 2 bridges are smaller in scale and big on grandeu, the "Kachina" and "Owachomo." Over 1,000 years ago native Americans built cliff dwellings--view the ruins. I am amazed! Be amazed what sand, wind and water can do with time, time and time. Glad I made time and froze time forever in my pics.

Very cool little place in Utah. There are a series of parking areas around the site which have short trailheads to the natural bridges (3). There are viewing areas above the bridges if you choose not to walk the trails. If you are anywhere near the Four Corners area or driving south from Moab, this is an amazing display of nature. There is a worthwhile 10 minute video at the ranger station that gives a good overview. Not many folks go here, which makes it doubly attractive. Here is the brochure for the NM http://www.nps.gov/nabr/planyourvisit/upload/NABR-English-Visitor-Guide.pdf

Our Annual National Park pass worked here. You will get NO Verizon cell service in this area. I wish we had time to hike down to each of the 3-4 bridges, but we did not. We only got to see the bridges from the top viewing areas. Drat. It was already about an hour from sunset when we arrived and it was growing too dim to be hiking down to the bridges, which none of the hikes were too long, less than a mile in some of the cases, if I remember correctly. So our top views weren't as impressive as probably taking pics from under the bridges. Maybe next time.

One of the greatest National Monuments out there. It is small and you can navigate through the park in just a few hours, but it is full of breathtaking beauty. Its remoteness may make you feel all alone out there, so that's a big plus. You can drive up to each of the three bridges' trailheads and hike down to each or you can access all three bridges via one big trail. Like the other Paul said that reviewed this park, Natural Bridges is off the beaten path, but should not be overlooked. One recommendation: Access the park via the Mokee Dugway. Crazy, but safe drive up the cliff on a dirt road near the Valley of the Gods. Stop at Goosenecks State Park for a nice view too. After checking out NBNM drive over to Highway 191 and spend the night in Bluff. I suggest Recapture Lodge.

Really amazing natural bridges! Natural Bridges are different than arches and while I am not skilled in describing to someone else about these differences there are indeed scientific differences between the two. Not far off the highway when you tour through south Utah and the other parks down there so it is easy to go see and is not too time consuming if you just drive around the monument. A word of advice though, southern Utah has so many national parks it might be best to get a pass from the national park service. In the long run it will be cheaper. The national parks pass is valid at all national monuments as well.

I didn't have time to hike down to the natural bridges, but I don't think it was necessary because the overlooks did allow you to see all three. All three of the overlooks were off the parking lot. Being a smaller park, it isn't crowded, so you could easily plop yourself anywhere for pictures at the overlook. The roads were well paved and maintained, the loop was well planned out. Visitor center had nice exhibits.

Really liked this place. Hiking down to stand under the Owachomo bridge was easy and a great spot for pictures, but take water especially if it's hot. The only downside was the place was spooky since no one was there when we went in the summer. The upside to that is that it was very quiet and you could hear the wildlife.

More arches or natural bridges, but definitely worth the small effort to go here, as their setting is quite different to the others. There is also some native American ruins several hundred years old in the side of a cliff.

Another amazing place to visit in southern Utah - three main 'bridges' with fairly easy hikes to view them - even to canyon floor if you're game.

Definitely worth hitting! I drove up from Monument Valley. Being winter, the whole area was not crowded, but Natural Bridges was totally empty - I saw 4 other cars the whole time. The views are amazing. If you are in shape, the hikes down and back up for the first two bridges on the loop are easy. If you are not, the third is quite easy. For the first bridge, you do have a bit of an elevation drop to deal with, as well as a couple of wooden ladders (sturdy, but still ladders). There is an overlook halfway down that is much more stunning than the one from the road. Again, the views will just make you say, "Wow!" And since it isn't crowded, you don't have to heat hundreds of others say the same thing. One thing to note is that this place is remote. There are no food locations nearby. Bring your lunch. I ate it in the car due to the cold, but if it is nice out this would be a great outdoor picnic place.

Worth the trip if you have time. Also suggest drive down towards Valley of the Gods. Take the Moki Dugway Highway. What a view!

Amazing natural structures. I thought Arches park was more beautiful but this park is well designed to make the bridges easily viewed. We had no trouble hiking down to one of them. The ride there is a bit long but beautiful, part of the road on the way goes through a red rock cliff.

This is a really cool and beautiful park; Awesome geology, archaeology, and scenery. Why not 5 stars then? Well, the visitor center staff could be more helpful. For instance... ...we wanted to hike the canyon floor path that connects all 3 bridges...but the park map says "un-maintained trail" which, from past experience, could mean anything from a well-marked trail to a total wash-out. So I ask the ranger at the visitor center about the current conditions of the trail. I explained that my wife and I didn't have a compass or topo map on us and we wanted to make sure that we weren't getting in over our heads. To quote the ranger, "Oh, the trail is soooo easy to follow...you couldn't possibly get lost down there." When I asked her how much time we should allow to complete the trail, she said, "2-3 hours, at most". Yeah, right...I forgot to bring my machete! We hiked up Armstrong Canyon...and 5 hours later, after crashing through reeds, hopping over mosquito ponds, and winding every which way, we hadn't even reached the 2nd bridge. Granted, we saw some really cool scenery on the way...but it was, overall, a frustrating experience. Finally, totally frustrated, we turned back - when we were finally almost back we ran into some other hikers. They asked what trail we had done and I told them about our experience. They looked surprised and then commented, "Wow, after the recent rains we've had here we heard that trail was totally destroyed! Why didn't the ranger tell you that?!?" GREAT question! Other than the fact that some of the rangers seem to be totally uniformed about the current conditions of their own park, this place is great. I can't misjudge a place on the ineptitude of ONE employee; I'd definitely visit this place again. But still, I felt it was fair to explain my 4 star (instead of 5) rating. :)

I just returned from a lengthy road trip and visited Natural Bridges. My intent was to hike the canyon bottom between the bridges. I talked to the rangers as the visitor center, got a map and gathered my backpack with lots of water, snacks, compass, sunscreen, hat, knife - just in case of I don't know what, and set off. I started at Sipapu and encountered surprises right off. I don't think I expected what the descent into the canyon would entail, but it was a breeze not having a companion who is afraid of heights or the slickrock. When I got to the bottom I took a break and wondered where the bridge was from there. Oh my gosh, it was right above me. Then I set off for Kachina and hopefully to see Horsecollar Ruin. I don't know how many miles I eventually travelled, but missed the ruin keeping my eye on any sign of the trail. Yup, it is totally unmaintained, there are very short patches of visible trail, but you mostly just follow the river bottom. There was not a lot of vegetation except on the river bank and it didn't hamper the hiking. Having good hiking shoes is a must to get up and down the ladders and across the slick rock. I really enjoyed the hike and came upon another surprise: going right under Kachina. I'm not sure the compass really helped although I did try to use it. I may not have been using it right. But if you keep your head and patience, there shouldn't be any problems along this hike. I didn't go to the third bridge, but I have it on my bucket list. A great trip and definitely deserves a return visit.