I'll be honest - my expectations for Natural Bridges NM were modest. I had looked up a few pictures ahead of time and thought "okay, some bridges". So I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed our time there. I don't think the pictures I saw did it justice. I thought the bridges were impressive and we had a great hike there.

We visited The Citadel and Moon House on Saturday and planned to camp near Natural Bridges that night (there is nice dispersed camping on Bears Ears and Deer Flat Roads just outside the monument). We finished up our hikes to the ruins with enough time to drive the loop road in Natural Bridges and stop at the overlooks of the three bridges. It was a beautiful evening and we only saw a handful of people - it was very peaceful to sit at the overlooks and enjoy the scenery. It was also nice to see the bridges from above since we would be hiking under them the next morning.

The three bridges are Sipapu, Kachina, and Owachomo:

- Sipapu is the largest bridge (and my favorite). Sipapu is a Hopi word meaning “opening between worlds”. At a height of 220 feet and a span of 268 feet, the dome of the US Capitol nearly fits in the opening of Sipapu.
- Kachina was named for the petroglyphs and pictographs found at the base of the bridge (the surveyor that named the bridge thought the figures represented Kachina dancers from the Hopi people). Kachina is also large (210 foot height, 204 foot span), but looks a lot chunkier with the thick span.
- Owachomo is the smallest of the three bridges (106 feet height and 180 foot span) and thought to be the oldest. Owachomo is another Hopi word meaning “rock mound” and was named for a rock formation on the top of the bridge. Although this bridge is the smallest, it didn’t seem that way due to the viewing perspective and the surroundings of the bridge. It is the only bridge that no longer has its stream running under it.

The next morning we parked at the Sipapu Bridge Trailhead to start our loop hike connecting all three bridges. The hike is around 8.6 miles with 500 feet elevation loss/gain. To start the hike we dropped into White Canyon and hiked 0.7 miles down to Sipapu Bridge. The route is steep, but the trail is nicely constructed with ladders, steps, and handrails in a few spots. There is an excellent overlook of the bridge before the final descent down to the base. After admiring Sipapu we continued down White Canyon to Kachina Bridge, located at the confluence with Armstrong Canyon. It was 2.3 miles to Kachina and we thought White Canyon was more scenic than Armstrong (it is deeper). All along the way we enjoyed the fall colors in both canyons.

From Kachina Bridge you have to hike up the same trail that ascends back to the parking lot, then turn into Armstrong along a rock ledge to bypass the Knickpoint, a large pour off. It was three miles to Owachomo and the last bit of this section was the most scenic as we traversed the canyon along a rock ledge. Owachomo seemed to appear out of nowhere - it is not located in the main canyon. Since Owachomo is not at the base of the canyon it appeared larger and more like an arch. It is the thinnest arch and suspected to be the oldest. Owachomo was Steve and Norah’s favorite - we enjoyed a nice break here - very scenic!

To save time Steve completed the loop to the car and came to pick us up (it was only 0.2 miles for us from Owachomo to the parking lot). The final two miles of the hike crossed the mesa back to Sipapu. We thought this hike was great and if time allows, would highly recommend doing the full loop. If short on time I would say do the Sipapu-Kachina loop (5.6 miles) and then visit Owachomo separately (it’s only 0.4 miles RT to hike to this bridge from the parking lot). Or you could just hike down to each bridge separately (3.5 miles) or pick one. There is an additional short walk to Horse Collar Ruin that we did not do, but we did see the ruins at a distance on our hike.