 1 It is only 54 miles from Hite to the Natural Bridges National Monument. |
 2 This is the Sipapu Bridge. It is in middle age where stream action no longer cuts the bridge. The three bridges in the park are at different stages of their "life" cycle. |
 3 The next bridge we visit is the young Kachina Bridge. |
 4 Stream action is still cutting its way through the Kachina bridge. |
 5 The rock through which the rock was cut is sandstone that was deposited during the Permian about 270-260 MYa. |
 6 The Owachomo bridge is in extreme old age. |
 7 Stream action stopped thousands of years ago leaving the Owachoma Bridge high and dry. |
 8 However, the same forces that create arches are still at work and they continue to eat away at the bridge. It will fall down shortly (geologically speaking). |
 9 You can see the cracks starting to form and one or more of them may be fatal. The trees are Pinyon and juniper. |
 10 This is a baby Pinon Pine clinging to life in the sandstone. |
 11 Our route takes us east on 95 and then south on US191 to Bluff, Utah. |
 12 About 30 miles from the Natural Bridges National Monument, we drop over the edge of a cliff into the Valley of the Gods. Exactly at that time, as we are traversing the switchbacks of the gravel road, the battery in my camera goes flat. |
 13 It is a couple of thousand feet to the valley floor - to the Valley of the Gods. A dirt road takes you into the valley itself which has similar geologic structures to Monument Valley. |
 14 We then head east along US 163 to the little town of Bluff, Utah. Just before Bluff are these fascinating wavy rock formations. The waves were made when pressure on both sides of fault lines pushed against each other. |
 15 Bluff is where we stayed overnight with Bonnie and Dennis on our first trip with them and where we stayed again in 2004 on our trip from Tucson to Seattle. We rediscover the Twin Rocks Cafe where Navajo bread is the speciality of the house. |
 16 After lunching on a Navajo burger, we continue south. The scenery remains remarkable. Canyon de Chelly is next. |
