FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — No road leads up to or over Rainbow Bridge, and no hands built it.
The reddish sandstone of the Colorado Plateau instead was washed away by the forces of water, sculpting a natural arch that takes hours to reach whether by boat, foot or horse.
The isolation of the bridge in far southern Utah kept it secret from many outside the area.
But its proclamation as a national monument 100 years ago this year opened it up to visitors to explore its beauty and learn about its rich geological and human history.
“Celebrating that monument status is special in many regards, and I invite visitors to try and just grasp some idea of what the American West will be like in 100 years,” said Chuck Smith, an interpretive ranger for the National Park Service and the monument’s only full-time employee.
Some people choose to hike 18 miles from the northeast side of Navajo Mountain or the 16 miles from the Rainbow Lodge ruins on the southwest side of the mountain.
The lodge burnt down in 1951, which then co-owner Barry Goldwater blamed on a cowboy smoking in the back room. Teddy Roosevelt was part of a horseback expedition to visit the bridge in 1913.
But today most of the 90,000 annual visitors take a much easier route, by boat from Page, Ariz., which upon arrival requires only a short hike. The 50-mile water trip across Lake Powell, made possible by the creation of Glen Canyon Dam in the 1960s, gives way to views of cathedral-like canyons and geologic formations that are hundreds of millions of years old.
Smith greets visitors after their two-hour boat ride to the bridge. Aside from a Park Service ranger, a trail, a shaded canopy and, Smith jokes, “nice comfy La-Z-Boy rocks,” the monument is much the same as it was hundreds of years ago, he said.
“You don’t see interpretive signs,” Smith said. “All you see is what should be reflected there, the ambiance, that isolated slice of the Colorado Plateau.”
The bridge is tucked at the base of Navajo Mountain, about 8 miles north of the Arizona state line. Five American Indian tribes in the area consider it sacred.
In 1909, an exploration party was led by two Indian guides, whose goal was to have it set aside as a national monument.
President William Taft proclaimed it a national monument on May 30, 1910.
Though expansions were proposed over the years, the monument retains its original 160-acre boundary.
Smith carries around a photo of people standing atop the bridge, when that was allowed, to give visitors an idea of the scale of the towering arch that measures 291 feet tall and 275 feet across.
He considers it the largest natural bridge in the world, though that is debatable.
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