Sheep Mesa Arch

We hiked the Blackwater Natural Bridge trail (My Blackwater Natural Bridge post is at this link), which was 8.5 miles one way and 17 miles round-trip, and we saw this mysterious arch up in the cliffs on Sheep Mesa as we were hiking.  It appeared at exactly mile 7.05 of the hike.  I asked the Wapiti Forest Service office what the name of the arch was, but they didn't even know there was another arch out there.  I decided to call it Sheep Mesa Arch until I can find out the real name of it.

We could see the arch for about a mile of our hike.  Sometimes you could clearly see the opening and other times you couldn't.

I wonder if we could have hiked and climbed under the arch.  At the time it seemed pretty inaccessible, but looking at the photos now I am wondering...

I also wonder what the view would look like through the arch.  I wonder if we could have seen Blackwater Natural Bridge through this arch, although I'm guessing it's probably too far down the trail from the arch, since the viewpoint for it is 8.5 miles and this arch appeared at mile 7.

 

Here are some items that might enhance your visit to Wyoming:

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Yellowstone National Park Insider's Guide

Lonely Planet Yellowstone and Grand Teton

The Complete Yellowstone National Park Travel Guide

Hiking Yellowstone National Park

Bill Sniffin's coffee table book "My Wyoming: 101 Special Places"s

Bill Sniffin's coffee table book "Wyoming's 7 Greatest Natural Wonders" 

Bill Sniffin's coffee table book: "Wyoming at 125: Our Place in the West" 

Wyoming Travel Guide 

Wyoming Recreation Map 

Camping Wyoming and the Black Hills 

Day Hikes Around Lander 

Yellowstone and Grand Teton Travel Guide 

Yellowstone National Park Day Hikes Map

Other Arches in the Area:

Blackwater Natural Bridge (Cody, Wyoming)

Sheep Mesa Arch (Cody, Wyoming)

Warm Springs Natural Bridges (Dubois, Wyoming)

Yellowstone Natural Bridge