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2 Rainbow Bridge

MAPS Rainbow Bridge, Chaiyahi Flat U.S.G.S.

SEASON March–November.

BEST April, October.

WATER Seasonal in Cliff Canyon, permanent in Bridge Canyon and Lake Powell.

PERMITS Required.

RULES None.

CONTACT Navajo Nation, Recreational Resources Department, Box 308, Window Rock, Arizona 86515; (928) 871-6647, or (928) 871-4941. Rainbow Bridge itself lies in Rainbow Bridge National Monument, which is administered by Glen Canyon National Recreation Area.

HIGHLIGHTS Rainbow Bridge is the world’s largest natural bridge, and one of the most graceful—a frozen rainbow of stone. Although most people now reach the bridge by boat on Lake Powell, the hike around Navajo Mountain is scenic enough in its own right—the bridge is frosting on the cake.

PROBLEMS The Rainbow Bridge Trail, though originally constructed for pack stock, is no longer maintained. Until you reach the bridge and the lake, you are in a very remote corner of the Navajo Reservation. All but experienced desert hikers should avoid this route from mid May through mid September, because of temperatures that reach 100˚F. Lake Powell is the only dependable water source during the summer months.

HOW TO GET THERE From Tuba City on U.S. 160, drive 40 miles northeast, and turn left on Arizona 98. Drive 13 miles, and turn right on Navajo 16. This road is paved for about 15 miles, to Inscription House Trading Post, and then becomes a graded, sandy road. Turn left 29 miles from Arizona 98, onto the Rainbow Lodge road, which is usually unsigned. Drive 5 miles, and look for a dome-shaped rock formation, Haystack Rock, ahead. Take the road that goes to the right of Haystack Rock. Unless you have a high-clearance four-wheel-drive vehicle, park at the fork at Haystock Rock. The trailhead lies 1.8 miles up the road, at the west side of the ruins of the old Rainbow Lodge, on the southwest slopes of dome-shaped Navajo Mountain.

Warning: There have been vehicle break-ins at this isolated trailhead. Do not leave valuables in your car.

DESCRIPTION The old horse trail starts from the ruins of Rainbow Lodge, a former departure point for guided pack trips to Rainbow Bridge. It contours for about 0.5 mile along the slope through the pygmy forest of pinyon pine and juniper trees and crosses appropriately named First Canyon. This is the first of several canyons you’ll cross. After contouring around First Canyon, the trail heads northwest across another pinyon-juniper slope. Since the miniature forest is open, there are sweeping views of the canyon country to the south and west.

Tip: Although the trip can be done as an overnight hike, it is much more enjoyable as a 3-day trip. Because of the long drive to the trailhead, you won’t have a full day of hiking on the first and last days. Also, a 3-day trip lets you camp in isolated, spectacular Cliff Canyon or Redbud Creek, instead of at Rainbow Bridge, which is crowded with boaters. Plan your trip to allow plenty of time at Rainbow Bridge. You won’t regret it, and you’ll have a chance to have the bridge to yourself during lulls in the boat and airplane traffic, especially early in the morning or late in the day.

After crossing Horse Canyon and a smaller, unnamed drainage, the trail turns to the north. Ahead, massive walls of salmon-hued Navajo sandstone mark the head of Dome Canyon. The trail contours above the head of this impressive canyon and then crosses a small, narrow ridge. Here it starts the steep descent into Cliff Canyon, plunging more than 1700 feet in 1.3 miles. Once the trail reaches the bottom of the canyon, watch for water in the bed. You may find a few pools along this section. Pick up water for a dry camp, and then look for a campsite as you continue downstream. Plan to camp before you reach the turnoff to Redbud Pass.

Natural Bridges

Natural bridges, such as Rainbow Bridge, are created when a stream erodes both sides of a meander. Much of the erosion in these desert canyons takes place during brief but violent floods caused by summer thunderstorms. The floodwater, containing sand, gravel, and boulders, gnaws away at the outsides of bends. Where a canyon loops back on itself, such erosion tends to cut through the narrowing fin of rock separating the two sides of the bend. When it succeeds, the stream takes the new shortcut, rapidly turning it into the main channel. Occasionally the top of the fin remains intact, bridging the new streambed. The underside of the stone bridge continues to erode away, mainly from weathering of the rock surface, and the size of the opening increases. Eventually, of course, the structure is weakened to the point of collapse. Geologically speaking, natural bridges are very short-lived formations.

Rainbow Bridge

Rainbow in Stone

Rainbow Bridge spans 275 feet across the canyon and is 290 feet high, but the deep canyon dwarfs it. To put it in perspective, the dome of the U.S. Capitol would fit under the bridge. But numbers alone do not do Rainbow Bridge justice. Its graceful shape is indeed reminiscent of a rainbow. The Navajo, and several other Southwestern tribes, regard the bridge and its surroundings as an especially sacred site, and the name comes from a Navajo legend that tells of a rainbow frozen forever in stone. Please visit the bridge respectfully.

At 7.9 miles, the trail turns abruptly right (northeast) and climbs up a narrow slot canyon to Redbud Pass, drops into Redbud Creek, and then turns left, downstream. You’ll find more campsites along Redbud Creek and seasonal water in the creek and in Rainbow Bridge Canyon. At 10.1 miles the trail enters Rainbow Bridge Canyon and meets the little-traveled north side trail from Navajo Mountain Trading Post. This trail offers an alternate route to Rainbow Bridge from a different trailhead.

It is less than two miles to Rainbow Bridge, but the intricate twists and turns of the canyon hide the massive stone arch until you reach the remains of an old camp at 11.7 miles. From the old camp, it’s a short walk to the bridge itself. Beyond the bridge, the wellbeaten trail continues to the boat dock on the lake. You’ll find no facilities at this dock, and camping is not permitted near the bridge.

NORTH SIDE TRAIL ALTERNATE ROUTE Another trail to Rainbow Bridge starts north of the old Navajo Mountain Trading Post, which is reached by continuing straight at the road junction 29 miles north of Arizona 98. Drive about 13 miles, past Rainbow City, to the end of the road at the trailhead. The trail, which follows the route used by the Cummings–Douglas party in 1909, circles the north side of the mountain and joins the Rainbow Lodge Trail after 11.1 miles. It’s another 1.8 miles down Rainbow Bridge Canyon to the bridge. This is a remote, unmaintained trail that traverses spectacular canyon country.

Laccolithic Mountains

As you look east through Rainbow Bridge, Navajo Mountain is framed majestically under its span. The 10,346-foot, dome-shaped mountain is one of the sacred mountains that the Navajo believe form the four pillars supporting the sky. It formed when volcanic magma pushed upward into the horizontal sedimentary rocks to create the plateau. The liquid rock lifted the rocks above into a huge blister, but failed to reach the surface to create a volcano. As the dome of rock eroded, the solidified magma at its core was revealed. Today the rounded summit of Navajo Mountain consists of the exposed, intruded core, while the flanks of the mountain are draped with upturned layers of Navajo sandstone. These tilted have eroded into towering fins and buttresses, visible from the trail just before the descent into Cliff Canyon.

Exploration of Rainbow Bridge

Navajo Bridge was first publicized by the Cummings–Douglass party in 1909 after a long, difficult journey from Oljeto Trading Post, 50 miles to the east. The group brought back such glowing reports of the sandstone bridge that President Taft used the Antiquities Act to create Rainbow Bridge National Monument the following year. A few tourists reached the remote bridge during the next few decades, but to do so they had to make an arduous pack trip of many days from Oljeto. Later, the trail was built, shortening the journey considerably. In the 1950s Rainbow Bridge became a popular side hike for river runners traversing the depths of Glen Canyon on the Colorado River. It was still a 7-mile hike from the Colorado River, up Forbidding and Rainbow Bridge Canyons. Mass tourism at Rainbow Bridge began with the filling of Lake Powell in the 1960s, which marked the end of the bridge’s isolation. Now Rainbow Bridge is a major destination for private boaters, tour boats, and aircraft.