Rainbow Bridge

 

Rainbow Bridge, one of the largest natural bridges in the world - 275 feet long, 246 feet high

All my life I've been wanting to visit Rainbow Bridge!  I've seen pictures and heard about it, but had never been to Lake Powell.  Finally, we brought our boat to Page, Arizona, and spent two days on Lake Powell!  The first order of business was visiting Rainbow Bridge!  We went in June 2023, and the water levels were lower than they had been (although higher than in 2022), so we weren't sure how close we would be able to get to the arch by boat.  We launched the boat at Wahweap and drove nearly 50 miles to Forbidding Canyon and followed the signs into the canyon where the trail began.  At first we thought we'd made a wrong turn, so we went back to our last turn and tried a little finger off to the left.  But it turns out that our first guess was the right one.  By then another boat had parked at the foot of the trail and that's when we realized that we had come into the right canyon and just hadn't spotted the trail.  We anchored the boat and walked 1.09 miles to reach the arch.  Once we saw the trail, it was very easy to follow.  In fact, some of it was paved.  We saw where the dock used to be (it had been moved out into a different section of the canyon).  It was 102 degrees, and there's not much shade on the trail at all, so the round trip felt like a pretty long hike.  But the arch was definitely worth it!  Native American people consider it sacred, so we're not allowed to go underneath or on top of the arch.  We took photos in front of it and then followed the trail around to the back of the arch for more photos.  If you don't have a boat to get to the arch, you could get a permit to hike about 16 miles to go across Native American land to reach the arch from the other side.  I greatly prefer the boat route!  Fifty miles in a boat sounds a lot better than hiking for 16 miles in the burning heat with almost no shade.  Either way, though, the arch is worth it!

You can watch a video of our boating trip from the time we entered the canyon for Rainbow Bridge until we anchored our boat for the hike to Rainbow Bridge at this link:

Trip to Rainbow Bridge by boat

this is where we anchored the boat

the beginning of the trail

this is where the water ends - kind of gross-looking.  I'm glad we didn't have to hike through that.

our first glimpse of the arch

a paved part of the trail

Rebecca in front of the arch.  It's hard to tell how huge it is since we couldn't go right under it.  It is the largest natural bridge in the world.

Rebecca, Lizzie, and James in 2023

Lizzie, me and Rebecca

view back on the trail from the arch

the arch from the side

geckos were everywhere climbing on the rocks

the other side of the arch

Rebecca, Lizzie, and James by the back side of the arch

hiking back to the boat

one last glimpse of the arch on our way back to the boat

a tiny bit of shade on the hike back

there's a tiny peek of the arch on the hike back

back to the water!

a look back at the trail from the boat as we drive away