Kachina & Owachomo Loop Trail In Natural Bridges

The Kachina and Owachomo Loop Trail is  5.4 miles between two of the large bridges in Natural Bridges National Monument in southeast Utah. Three miles of the route is in Armstrong Canyon and the rest passes over the mesa top.

I started at the Kachina Bridge Trail Head. The trail from the canyon rim down to the bridge is 0.75 miles. The route is steep but there are steps and handrails installed to make the trip easier. Kachina Bridge has many Ancestral Pueblo petroglyphs on both sides of the base and there is a small unusual ruins site on the far side.

The loop trail up Armstrong Canyon toward Owachomo Bridge branches off about halfway to the bottom, so a visit to Kachina requires a backtrack back up to continue. There is also a loop trail up White Canyon to Sipapu Bridge. From the parking area of Kachina Bridge, a small circular storage ruins can be spotted on a ledge above the trail toward Owachomo. That ruins is hidden from sight along the trail even as you pass right below it.

In the first mile of hiking a large alcove appears on the left. With binoculars, some wall structures can be spotted. There was a three person crew that appeared to be studying this ruins site on the day I hiked past. The sunny alcove was perched above steep cliffs and finding a way to get closer would take some searching.

In mid April after a heavy snow year there were many pools of water in the canyon bottom. There are some patches of sagebrush indicating good soils for farming, but the fields were small. There were cottonwood trees in places, along with Pinon Pine and Utah Juniper on the canyon sides.

 In the Natural Bridges area silver green Roundleaf Buffaloberry shrub is common. There is an example of it with some interpretive information on the short botany trail at the park Visitor Center. This plant isn't seen much in the other canyon areas of the Four Corners. I also saw some of the evergreen Fremont Barberry along the trail.

About 1.0 mile from Owachomo Bridge is a rock formation called the Shoe. The Shoe has a small arch. To get a good view of the arch requires a short detour off the trail, staying high rather than dropping down to the canyon floor.

Below the shoe is the Shoe Pictograph Panel. The view from the trail is about 30 feet below the intricate art work. The long rows of triangles that look like shark’s teeth are the most eye catching. There are also spirals and many humanoid figures. There may be a ruins site on the ledge up near the panel, but I didn’t try to climb up.

Most visitors to Owachomo Bridge stop when they are underneath it. There is an obscure trail that continues across the canyon and climbs the opposite side for some good views. This trail looks like it was constructed 50 years ago and hasn’t been maintained since then.

Owachomo spans 180 feet and is 106 feet high. It is one of the most graceful rock spans in the region. Climbing back to the rim, it is 2.2 miles along the Mesa Top Trail back to the Kachina parking area. The Mesa Top Trail passes through Pinon Pine and Utah Juniper forest and climbs over some rocky sandstone outcrops. In a few places there are good views toward the canyons.

I spent about 5:00 hours for the 5.4 mile loop. I did some backtracking in the area around the Shoe Panel and spent some time climbing in the area across from Owachomo. A hiker could also spend time viewing the rock art near Kachina Bridge. I carried and drank 3 liters of water on a 65 F degree mid April day.

Kachina Bridge Ruins-Natural Bridges

The Kachina Bridge Trail is 0.75 miles with 350 feet elevation change to one of the three large natural bridges in Natural Bridges National Monument in southeast Utah. On the opposite canyon wall past the bridge opening is a hidden ruins site with many examples of rock art.

The Kachina Bridge is 210 feet high with a span of 204 feet. The top of the bridge is 44 feet wide and 93 feet thick. Along the main trail wall there are some faint petroglyphs. Through the bridge on the upstream side there appeared to be two flute player images. The Kachina Bridge is the middle of three bridges and can be visited directly from the rim or as part of a loop hike from one of the other two large bridges.

The short side trail to the ruins site isn’t pointed out and there is a sandy hill to climb. The site is small and the structures are unusual. There are two circular structures and a small conical storage bin. There is a trail box at the beginning of the site that offers some interpretive comments. The two circular structures don’t show any sign of ever having had roofs, so the site is thought to have had some special use.

This area is rich with pictographs and petroglyphs. There are quite a few red handprints. The sandstone slabs that are in front of the site also have petroglyphs carved into them. The somewhat famous petroglyph that resembles a dinosaur is on the main trail side of Kachina Bridge on the down canyon side. The petroglyphs around the dinosaur are very faint. I didn’t notice it until I looked at my pictures later.

Horse Collar Ruins Trail-Natural Bridges

The Horse Collar Ruins Trail refers to the White Canyon section of loop trail from Sipapu Bridge to Kachina Bridge in Natural Bridges National Monument in southeast Utah.

The total loop hike between the two large bridges along the canyon and over the mesa top is 5.4 miles. The Horse Collar site is closer to Sipapu Bridge and I started my hike there.

There is a 0.3 mile Horse Collar Ruins Overlook Trail along the Bridge View Loop Road. From above the two units of Horse Collar are visible far below. This ruins site is about 0.8 miles down the canyon from Sipapu Bridge just past the canyon junction with Deer Canyon.

The Horse Collar refers to the shape of the doors in the south unit. The south unit is considered to be unusual in that there is a square kiva and a round kiva at the same site. Round kivas are typical of southwest Colorado and southeast Utah while square is typical of northern Arizona.

This ruins site is easy to miss along the canyon bottom trail. It sits on top of a shelf with some steep cliffs below and is most easily noticeable when traveling from Sipapu from Kachina. The north unit can be spotted from the slightly elevated area above the canyon bottom.

There is a vague side trail that approaches through a thick patch of oak but I didn’t see an easy way to get up onto the ruins shelf. Even though I was immediately below the famous south unit I couldn’t see it.

Directly across the canyon from the Horse Collar Ruins is the large Indian Foot Arch. This arch appears to be below the overlook point but isn’t very visible from up there.

About 1 mile past the Horse Collar Ruins and Indian Foot Arch a small granary ruin is visible. Soon the Kachina Bridge comes into view. Look for petroglyphs on both sides of Kachina Bridge and also look along the canyon wall on the opposite side from the trail back toward the rim.

I saw another small arch high on the east rim further down canyon. There is also a small arch along the trail climbing back to the rim above Kachina Bridge.

The distance between Sipapu and Kachina Bridges is about 2.4 miles. My total time for the 5.4 mile loop including side trips was 4:20 hours on an 80 F day in late August.



An Archaeological Survey of Natural Bridges National Monument Southeastern Utah

Sipapu Bridge Ruins Trail-Natural Bridges

The Sipapu Natural Bridge is one of the three very large bridge formations in Natural Bridges National Monument in the Cedar Mesa area of southeast Utah. The trail from the rim to the bridge is 0.6 miles and descends about 500 feet.

Sipapu Bridge is very massive at 220 feet high, with a 268 foot span. The bridge is 31 feet wide and 53 feet thick. The main park trail system features hiking between Sipapu and Kachina Bridge along the bottom of White Canyon and also on the mesa top for a 5.6 mile loop. There is also a trail that goes up the canyon about 0.7 miles to a small ruins site. There aren’t any signs that point out this trail.

The small structures sit in a south facing curve of the twisty canyon high enough above the creek to avoid flooding. The canyon bottom is lush with willows and cottonwood trees and there are patches of Gambel Oaks. There also grassy areas and the soil seems to be sandy.

It looks like there is a squarish possible kiva and a small room block and some small storage bins. There is also a small granary high and to the right of the main structures with a couple of old timbers lying across the top of the kiva. The canyon walls are very steep here and it’s not clear where any travel to the rim would occur. The canyon rims here are dry so maybe there was no need to go there.

To the left of the structures there is a panel of white pictographs featuring some large figures. It took me about 20 minutes to arrive at this site from the Sipapu Bridge. The total side trip took about 50 minutes on an 80 F degree late August day.

Natural Bridges National Monument Short Trails

Natural Bridges National Monument is in the remote Cedar Mesa canyon country of southeast Utah and has three examples of giant natural rock spans. Traveling around the Bridge View Drive, there are trails leading down to each of the three Bridges.

Bridges are different from arches in that bridges are partially formed by the moving water of a stream, where arches are formed by frost action on seeping water. Bridges are also often hidden deep in canyons, whereas arches are eroded fins and are often perched up high and easy to see. These bridges are in the Cedar Mesa sandstone layer that is deeper than the layer where the stone arches of Arches Park occur.

The first trail head along the nine mile loop road is Sipapu Bridge Trail. The trail down there is only 0.6 miles but has a 500 ft. elevation change. There are wooden ladders, stairs, and hand rails to help you traverse the steep slippery sandstone. Sipapu Bridge is 220 feet high, 31 feet wide, and has a span of 268 feet with a thickness of 53 feet. Sipapu is an Ancestral Pueblo term referring to the place of emergence. The circular kivas found at many ruins sites have a symbolic Sipapu in the floor.

At the bottom it is lush and green and a different world from the desert conditions on the rim. This area of southeast Utah is rich in Ancestral Pueblo Ruins and these canyons have some, though you need to explore to find them. The Horse Collar Ruin that is visible from the rim is about one mile down canyon from Sipapu on the north side of the canyon. (There are also ruins up the canyon to look for.)

The Kachina Bridge Trail here was the longest of the three bridge trails at 0.75 miles down, but the elevation change not so bad at 350 ft. On the road to the Kachina Trail Head is an overlook for Horse Collar Ruin. The Kachina Bridge is 210 feet high, 44 feet wide, with a span of 204 feet and is the thickest here at 93 feet.

A lot of work had been done on the trail, cutting and arranging stones to make convenient steps down an otherwise steep route. There are some faint petroglyphs high on the walls of the Kachina Bridge. (Kachina Bridge is named for some of the petroglyph figures on the walls near the base of the bridge. Some of the figures are also of interest to those who believe that the Ancestral Pueblos lived at the same time as the dinosaurs.)

These bridges are so massive that it is hard to take pictures of them up close with your typical cameras. The dark streaks on the sandstone are desert varnish, a mostly manganese and iron deposit left from evaporated water. Again, it was much greener and moister at the bottom of the canyon and the place was alive with birds calling.

The Owachoma Bridge Trail is the shortest and easiest of the three bridge trails. This bridge is 106 feet high, 27 feet wide with a span of 180 feet and a thickness of only 9 feet. Owachoma translates as "round mound."

Owachoma Bridge is an example of an older bridge, perhaps near collapse. It is so old that the stream that formed it doesn't flow under it any more. It is easy to get to, only 0.2 mile and only a 90 foot descent. This one is on the cover of the park brochure, the highlight of natural bridges. It is possible to hike between each of these bridges through the canyons with connecting loop trail on the mesa top. A tour of all three bridges in one hike is 8.6 miles.