Part of our trip to Blanding over spring break included a day trip to Natural Bridges National Monument. We had never been here before and it was so remarkable to see such scenery and beauty. The bridge pictured below is the Sipapu Bridge. There is a trail you can hike down to this bridge but it seemed a bit too tricky for little kids and pregnant lady so we settled with taking a picture from afar. I admit when we first got to the overlook I couldn't see the bridge as the background just seems to blend it altogether. Just so pretty!
A group picture (yep Wy's posing again!) before we trekked down to the overlook for the Sipapu Bridge.
Grandpa and Lane are standing close to the edge of where the trail goes down to the Sipapu Bridge.
When we first arrived at the monument Wyatt went with Grandpa to get maps and came back with the Junior Ranger book. He loves doing these Junior Ranger activities when we go places so he was quite excited to get this one too. On each trail he reminded us that he was THE junior ranger and to please stay on the trail and to follow him. Unfortunately he forgot to keep checking on his "group" and thus far outdistanced the slow pokes - namely mom. Conner didn't do too bad with keeping up although on this particular trail we wished we would have put him in tennis shoes instead of cowboy boots. I kept thinking he was going to slide right over the edge with those boots (they have not traction whatsoever!) Thankfully we was okay!
This is the Horsecollar Ruin. It was pretty neat to see it in such good condition. We zoomed in with the camera and could see inside most of the dwellings.
Ranger Wyatt and Conner (yes, he now too strikes a pose) prepping us for the long hike down to the Owachomo Bridge. This hike wasn't really that long but when you have a 1 year old who decided at the top to walk all the way down it gets to be a bit long.
See, here he is getting ready to go down one of the many steps. On one step we stopped and measured: it was longer down the step than his leg. Would he let anyone help? Nope! He sat down, scooted over the edge, stood up, looked at Grandpa and said "Let's go!" There's me in the background trying not to slip and fall all the way to the bottom.
Brad and the boys made it to the bottom well before Lane, Grandpa or I. I paused here to take a photo and didn't go much farther.
My boys!
This is the bridge from the trail, not even down to the bottom yet although it does look like I'm on the canyon floor.
As we made the trek back up Lane decided he'd like to walk by himself and Conner decided he needed to be carried. In order to keep him moving we told him we didn't think he could climb up various rocks and outcroppings. Notice the smile on his face when he proved us wrong. He is such a monkey and he scampered over these rocks all the way back up the trail. Good thing kids are easy to convince!
We had such a fun time at the monument and Wyatt was able to complete his Junior Ranger book. We finished too late to turn it in but we still learned quite a bit about the monument, the area and some of the animals that live there. Thanks Grandpa and Grandma Patterson for taking us!
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