Natural Bridges

Tuesday September 7. Summer is over, school has begun. Here begins the year off!
Today I rode along another lovely highway through deserted public land to Natural Bridges National Park. The park is a circle loop road and houses three magnificent bridges. All three are viewed from the top rim and in order to see them the best, and see sky through them, you need to hike down into the canyon. The hikes were short but strenuous, because you had to climb down and up again, over rocks, ledges and up and down ladders. The bridges are created by rivers that erode the sandstone as they flow downhill. Here are pictures of all three.

As you can see the weather today was not sunny, it was overcast almost all day. That's the first time in weeks, maybe the whole trip. It actually sprinkled a few times too.

After, I left I rode to a state park called The Goosenecks. It is an overlook above the San Juan River as it meanders around the cliffs it has created over thousands of years.

The last photo is a picture of Monument Valley. I was really looking forward to this place, but was disappointed somehow. Whether it was rock fatigue, or having seen too many beautiful parks, this one lacked something. Interestingly enough, it is not a national park or monument. It is just a group of rock formations on the Arizona - Utah border. It is Navajo land. There is only one hotel there and it is an expensive tourist trap. So, I took a few photos and then rode east to stay in Bluff, Utah. Shortly after I checked in it rained good. I think it rained most of the night. However, the day was good. The only down side is the lack of sun in the photos.