Backpacking Trip To Rainbow Bridge

Rainbow Bridge national monument in Utah is undeniably the most outstanding and mystical arch in the entirety of the American southwest. The arch towers are an outstanding 290 feet tall and 270 feet across making it the largest natural bridge in the world. The Navajos considered this arch extremely sacred believing it to be a portal to the spirit world. Rainbow bridge is not an easy arch to see in person. The arch is tucked away in the far reaches of Lake Powell, with the easiest way to get there being a 4-hour boat ride through an expansive twisting and turning canyon system that eventually arrives at the rainbow bridge. In my opinion, a natural formation of such grand and mystical beauty shouldn’t be seen by such an easy means. I find the boat ride an easy route that fails to make you appreciate this overwhelmingly massive structure as if you are not fully submitting yourself to its beauty with a mere 1 hour wait time before the boat launches off and heads back to the marina. There is an alternative route that you can take to get to the bridge and it is one that is exceedingly difficult and requires backpacking and map reading experience. I feel it necessary to tell of my experience on this route, and why I felt it made me feel that the monument was mystical and something to be held sacred.

I will start my story with a cliche but a cliche I believe to be very true: It’s about the journey, not the destination. The trip started as they all do. We fly out to Phoneix and drive to a smaller town closer to where we will be starting the trip, then buy all the essentials that you will need for the next 3 days and crash on some motel bed. I do forget what town we stayed in before the Rainbow Bridge trip. There were seven of us on the trip so on the first day we split up into two cars and started the 3-hour car ride to the trailhead that was located in a remote part of the Utah wilderness. We drove about 2 hours on the highway then turned off onto a desolate and washed-out dirt road having an hour left. We ran into trouble on the road and there were some times when it got so hairy we thought we might get stuck. The road was washed out and there were parts where soft sand would cause you to lose traction. That mixed with the hills we had to go over made it quite a difficult experience.

Finally, we did end up making it to the trailhead where the real fun was to begin. We started by double-checking we had everything, like all our food, cooking stuff, and most importantly the water filter, which we wouldn’t last a day without. Out of the seven of us, two brave souls volunteered to do the trip twice as fast as the rest of us, then turn around and in one day trek back what we did in 2 days and drive the cars to the meeting point so that the rest of us didn’t have to make the round trip. The first day started great we had about 7 miles to go until we reached our first campsite, and the views were amazing. We saw towering plateaus of red rock and the beautiful desert landscape of the southwest. One thing I failed to do on the first day however was remembered to eat enough food only eating a few handfuls of trail mix during the day. So by mile five, I was starting to bonk. With each step, my backpack felt heavier and heavier. The small hills we had to traverse became mountains, but I kept pushing on. By the time we were about a mile out from the campsite, I plopped down and couldn’t move another step. Everyone was asking what was the matter, but I could barely even respond without feeling like I would break down. Everyone told me to eat and drink something quick so that I could continue on. I grabbed the food I had and started scarfing it down, then I drank tons of water. After about ten minutes later I felt i had the energy to continue you on, but it didn’t make things any easier. Each step still felt like a hundred and I was dragging behind the rest of the group. Eventually, we made it to camo where I set up and we had dinner and some Fireball which was the cure to my energy breakdown. Later I went to my tent and passed out instantly.

The next day was much better I was rejuvenated and ready to start the hike. The scond day was a ten-mile day which was dreadful but now I knew to eat to avoid the same crises that I had the day before. The second day was far prettier than the first because we started to enter the canyon that would take us to Rainbow bridge. About halfway through the hike, we saw two little hunts that were made of old cedar logs and branches. We went up to the hunt curious and found a snapshot of the past. In the hunt were all sorts of things which I would guess to be for the early 1900s. There were old aluniunim cans, old glass jugs, and a ton of other little things. The hunts looked as if they hadnt been touched in over 100s years, and I consider it to be one of the highlights o the trip. Eventually as the sun was falling we made it to our second and final campsite. This campsite was tucked away in a small canyon enclave. With canyon walls rising on three sides of us. The campsite provided another snapshot of the past. There was an old wire fence that once stood at the entrance of the enclave and a dilapidateed outhouse that roof was slowly caving in, at the back of the enclave were bunches of old spring cots that were falling about and lying in ruin. The campsite was beautifully creepy, especially when night came. At about 9 pm an unexpected storm came in. Theenclave acted as a wind tunnel with all the canyon wind forced into our campsite. The tents were shaking madly all night and bug pellets of rain would occasionally collide with the tents. It felt like the ghost of the past campers was haunting us, but eventually, I fell asleep and woke the next day.

The last day was easy it was about a mile to the Rainbow bridge and the boat wasnt going to coming until one, so we had time to relax and enjoy some breakfast and explore a little bit before we headed to the Bridge. The hike to the Bridge was a tease as the canyon twisted around creating blind corners to which everyone you thought the Bridge would be hiding behind. On the last turn, I could see just a little bit of the bridge but I turned my eyes downward so that I could see the bridge in its entirety. I then looked up when I knew the entire bridge would be in my vision and was awestruck. The Bridge rose higher than I could"ve ever imagined, and it truly did look like a portal. I couldnt believe my eyes. It was only 10 am when we got to the bridge, and we spent a few hours just admiring its beauty. Seeing The Rainbow Bridge really made all the hardship I face don the hike, feel worth it. I felt like the suffering that I expirenced made me see the Bridge and truly apprreciate it with all my soul. It was like I was being tested before I could expirence its beauty.

After a while, the boat arrived where we stood waiting. The boat docked and troves of tourists poured out onto the paved path, many of them looking like they wouldnt be able to make the 10th of a mile walk to the bridge. There were families with uninterstined teenagers wishing they could be anywhere else. Seeing all these people that seemed to not appreciate where they were to the fullest made me feel a little sad. However, eventually, the mystified feeling from the bridge faded and we were slowly entering civilization again. The trip ended with us getting burgers at the marina restaurant and talking about the trip and how amazing it all was.