Natural Bridges National Monument, Deming Utah

 

Working off our tour checklist, we headed off to Natural Bridges National Monument, once again at o'dark thirty to be here for sunrise and to beat the heat. 

The three bridges of the park are all 3 miles apart along a 9 mile loop road. The first one is Sipapu. This was named for the opening in the world where the ancestral people came out.

The second is Kachina. All of these bridges were formed by running water - rivers or rivers that once were.

And the final is Owachoma, which we hiked down to see it from the base.

Also along the nine-mile loop is the Horsecollar Cliff dwellings located across the valley floor, very visible in the early morning sun.  This is an Anasazi site, and is named from the shape of the windows in the structures.

On the way back to the camp, we also stopped along Butler Wash to view the cliff dwellings all along the ridge. These are also Anasazi, Pueblo III  built sometime around 1200.  Pretty amazing that quite a bit of this structure still remains.

And of course, I have to make friends with the lizards!

and this lone flower I found in our campground.  I believe it's a Gunnison's Maripose Lily.  
The bees were crazy for it!