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| American Southwest, books American southwest, natural bridges American Southwest, southwest inside out, arches American southwest, maps American southwest, Grand Canyon American Southwest, books, grand canyon, Navajo, natural bridges, arches, painted desert, petroglyphs, travel tips, Sipapu, maps, national parks, Natural Bridges national monument, state parks, hiking, desert |
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| ARCHES
+ BRIDGES to read text click red squares below |
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| Enlargement of Natural Bridges Illustrations From a shallow meandering stream (left) to canyon formation (center) and a stream-cut hole through a narrow canyon wall (right). 
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ARCHES + BRIDGES (to return to top of page click blue squares) There are sacred places in the plateau country where rainbows are captured in stone. That is as it should be, for the Navajo who live nearby believe that the gods travel on the arching back of the rainbow goddess. Natural bridges and arches stand as tribute to the strength of rock, to the shaping forces of weathering and erosion—and to the rainbow goddess. Bridges span watercourses—running streams or arroyos that carry intermittent runoff. On the Colorado Plateau, rivers meander along canyon bottoms and sometimes double back on themselves. Bridges develop where these winding waterways take a shortcut and eat their way through a solid wall of rock (see illustration). Weathering finishes the job, gently rounding rough edges and smoothing contours into the graceful shapes now seen in some of the older spans—Rainbow Bridge and Sipapu Bridge are superb examples.
FAMOUS NATURAL BRIDGES Rainbow Bridge (top left), the world's largest natural bridge, spans 275 feet (84 m) and soars 290 feet (88 m) above the floor of Bridge Canyon in Utah's Rainbow Bridge National Monument. This park shares a boundary with Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and the Navajo Nation and can be easily reached by boat across Lake Powell. Three other stunning bridges—Sipapu (top right), Kachina, and Owachoma—can be seen by car or explored on foot in Utah's Natural Bridges National Monument.
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