Camille's Arches

My favorite rocks are the ones with holes in them! My love for arches began during the two and a half years that our family lived in Moab, Utah. We spent many hours every week hiking to arches and other beautiful sites in this red-rock wonderland. Whenever I visit Moab now, I always feel like I'm coming home. This website is a collection of arches that I have visited from all over the world. View this site as a webpage to see the full list of arches in the sidebar!

Sunday, September 20, 2026

Bear Pass Arch

In 2023 a friend of mine who knows how much I love arches asked if I'd ever seen the arch up Bear Pass in Dubois, Wyoming. I'd never heard of it, so he gave me details. In July of 2024 we attempted to drive Bear Pass in our suburban, in the hopes of seeing the arch. We didn't make it very far before we realized that our suburban definitely could not handle Bear Pass. Over the next couple years we looked for opportunities to find this arch, which I'd never even seen a photo of. Finally, we convinced a friend of ours who had a jeep to take us on this rough 4wd trail in search of this arch. The friend who had originally told us about the arch had been there the weekend before, and had spotted a grizzly bear right next to the arch. He and his buddy were looking up at the arch and saw what they thought was a brown cow grazing under the arch. They laughed, wondering how a cow had ended up high on the mountain, when the bear suddenly stood up on his hind legs. This bear sighting intrigued our friend with the jeep, and made him even more willing to drive us out into the unknown for a glimpse of this elusive arch.

We left Lander on a Saturday morning at 9:30 and headed to Dubois, about an hour away. We turned on the road leading to Thunderhead Ranch, a right turn before reaching the Military Museum in outer Dubois. We followed the dirt road until we came to a fork, and then followed the sign for Bear Creek Road -- not the one for Bitterroot Ranch. My husband and I remembered the route from our attempt a couple years earlier. We had asked for directions from a hunter in the area, who directed us to Bear Pass. We knew what the parking area looked like, so we parked there again to air down the tires.

We started up Bear Pass and were very grateful to have the jeep, and to have a driver who has a lot of experience with off-roading. The road is very rough, and his jeep handled it very well. We had the GPS coordinates from my friend, and we had pinned it on google maps before leaving our house. Google Maps wanted us to take a route through Dubois and onto Horsecreek Road, and then to hike for a considerable distance. Don't use google maps for directions to this arch! You can open the pin in google maps before you leave, but then just follow the road as I've described, up onto Bear Pass, and watch as you get closer to the gps coordinates of the arch. The road does eventually lead there, but it is over 10 miles on the rough 4wd trail of Bear Pass.

Only a little ways into Bear Pass is a gate that you have to open, and then close behind you. Once you've passed this spot, you won't have to open any more gates. Just continue on the main trail and follow the coordinates.

Along the route, we spotted another arch off in the distance. We were still miles from Bear Pass Arch, and I was surprised that my friend had not mentioned this other arch. We were about 1/2 mile from the arch where we viewed it on the road. We got out of the jeep and took a lot of photos. We determined that it would probably be possible to hike to the arch, but we didn't want to take the time that day. Another time we'll need to go back and hike along the ridge or along the slope to at least get a closer look at the arch. It appears to be quite a large arch. We named it Indian Ridge Arch. It isn't on any maps that we have seen, and no one else seems to have noticed it. We realized on the way down that we had caught the arch at just the right moment, when sunlight was shining through it, because on the way back down the arch appeared to only be a cave on the mountain. If the lighting hadn't been right, we would have just continued on our ride, never noticing the majestic arch off to the side. The google maps location of the viewpoint for this arch is here: Indian Ridge Arch The GPS coordinates are:

43°40'57.9"N 109°31'33.2"W

Again, don't use google maps for directions to this arch. Like the Bear Pass Arch, Google Maps tries to send you through Dubois and onto Horsecreek Road from where you would have to hike up a mountain from the valley below. Just open the gps coordinates in google maps and watch as you get closer to it while driving up Bear Pass. This is the best spot to view the arch, because as you continue to drive up Bear Pass, the opening in the arch disappears as it looks more and more like simply a cave on the mountain.

We continued our drive towards the gps coordinates that my friend had sent. As we grew closer to our destination, we were confused because the road appeared to veer off to the left, yet we knew that we needed to head to the right to reach the arch. We saw a side track through the grass that would take us up over the ridge. It was not an established trail like the one we were on, but we decided to try it. This took us along the ridge, which had spectacular views in every direction. We drove to where an old gravesite stands on the edge of the ridge, and where we could drive the jeep no farther. Our friend got out of the jeep and started looking around the landscape with his binoculars. Almost immediately he spotted the arch. It was a side view and looked like simply a ribbon attached to a dome. I looked through the zoom lens of my camera and could also see that it was an arch. Our gps coordinates were close enough that both of us were very determined that this was indeed the arch. However, the description from our friend did not match this arch, because he had described looking up at the arch on a steep slope. My husband and I tried to walk down the ridge line, and I did get some more photos of the arch from that vantage point, but I was still unconvinced that we were at the spot that my friend had described. My husband was not able to see the arch at all -- even with the binoculars or the zoom lens. We decided to drive back along the ridge and rejoin the road up Bear Pass.

Soon after we started back on the main trail, we realized that it did indeed curve off to the right. We continued to get closer and closer to the gps coordinates, and the road continued to get rougher and rougher.

This google maps screenshot shows the Indian Ridge Arch viewpoint on the bottom, and the Bear Pass Arch near the center.

I remember the moment the arch came into view. I was so excited, and so grateful that we had continued to follow the trail instead of giving up on the ridge. It was 10.29 miles from the beginning of Bear Pass to the point where I first viewed the arch. That does not include the miles from the time we turned off the highway near Dubois -- it is just the 4wd portion of the trip. It had taken us over 3 hours to drive those 10.29 miles. That gives you an idea of just how rough that road is! Keep in mind that this includes our little detour to drive along the ridge, which I don't regret doing! It was awesome to see the view from up there, and to see both views of the arch. If I were to do it again, I'd do the trip in exactly the same way. The google maps location of the best view of Bear Pass Arch is here: Bear Pass Arch The coordinates are:

43°43'58.5"N 109°30'23.9"W

As we drove closer to the arch we realized that it is actually a double arch. You can view a video of the arch here: Bear Pass Arch We could not tell that from our viewpoint up above. The 4wd road ends at the base of the mountain that houses the arch, and there's a fence that says that no motor vehicles are allowed past that point. There is a muddy water hole on the right of the road, with the arch high up the slope on the left. It is possible to hike up the mountain and stand under the arch. But as my husband and I were discussing the best way to do this, a bow hunter came out of the meadow on foot. He said that a grizzly bear had been circling him, and was only about 400 yards back. He seemed very grateful to have run into us. It was probably the same bear that had been standing at the arch the week before. We had bear spray with us, and guns, but we decided that hiking up the mountain, which was very clearly in grizzly territory, would not be wise. So we viewed the arch from below, and then turned around and headed back. I admit that after we got home, I wished that we had risked it and climbed under the arch. But perhaps I was more wise at the time, because the hunter had described these grizzly bear tracks as being over a foot wide. He had been effectively spooked by this bear's predatory behavior, and it was wise of us at the time to err on the side of caution.

On the way back, we watched for Indian Ridge Arch again, and this time could not even tell it was an arch. It simply looked like a cave. It is not surprising that others have not noticed it. One feature that we noticed on our drive back, and that we had seen while standing up high on the ridge, was what looked like an alligator spine. It reminded us of Devil's Slide in the Morgan, Utah area. It was that same kind of land formation. We admired the views on the way back, especially when we were on the edge of a cliff and could see the beautiful valley below. All of us kept commenting on how beautiful the area is and how lucky we were to be there. We passed the parking area for Bear Pass, and this time decided to go left because our friend knew that it was a loop road and had very pretty views. We were glad that we had taken this alternative route, which was about the same distance as our first route and brought us to the same entrance to the highway that we had left that morning.

We pulled over to air up the tires again. While we were doing this, half a dozen people stopped to ask if we were all right and needed any help. We were impressed by their willingness to help, although we explained that we were just airing up after our ride.

We decided to head to the restaurant at the Military Museum to eat lunch, which was actually dinner at this point, because it was 5:30 p.m. by the time we got there. The restaurant is called The Canteen, and I highly recommend it. Its google maps location is here: The Canteen You don't have to pay an entrance fee to the museum to eat there. It is a bit pricey, but the food is excellent. It is now my favorite place to eat in Dubois. After we were full, we headed back to Lander, quite happy with our day. We had reached the arch that I had wanted to see for years, and we'd found a bonus arch in the process!

Bear Pass Arch, September 2026

Here are photos from our journey:

heading onto the dirt East Fork Road, towards Thunderhead Ranch

this portion of the road is flat and easy, not requiring 4wd

Thunderhead Ranch, the Spence Law firm's campus for trial attorneys

When you reach these signs, take the fork on the LEFT, not on the right. Don't go towards Bitterroot Ranch. Take the Bear Creek Road.

This is the correct road -- up Bear Creek Rd

I thought this cliff edge looked like the side profile of a man. It reminded me of our trip to Alcova Arch at the Mountain Man that you can see on the reservoir there.

This is the parking area before Bear Pass

We pulled over into the parking area at the Bear Pass turn so that we could let some air out of our tires

view of the parking area at the beginning of Bear Pass - when you come to this junction, turn left onto Bear Pass. There are not any signs

This is the left turn

our jeep for the trip

getting ready to head up Bear Pass

our aired-down tires

heading to the gate that we had to open and then close behind us. This is near the beginning of Bear Pass

my husband opening the gate for us

This gives you an idea of what the beginning of Bear Pass is like

beautiful view into the valley

Indian Ridge Arch

This was our first view of the Indian Ridge Arch - if you look closely you can see the light through it

You can clearly see in this photo that it is an arch

we parked the jeep on the road so we could take photos and get a closer look at the Indian Ridge Arch

The surrounding area

this view is just to the left of the arch (the arch opening is barely visible at the edge of the photo)

more views of the arch - it appears that we could climb along the ridge to stand above the arch, or we could hike along the slope to stand underneath the arch. The arch was a half mile from the road. We decided we didn't want to take the time to hike to the arch this time.

This is where we were parked while looking at Indian Ridge Arch: Google Maps location

this photo is to the right of the arch

some of the surrounding rocks

a closer view of the arch

Indian Ridge Arch

the surrounding rocks

the cave below the arch looks interesting

The slope of the landscape does look like we could walk along it to get closer to the arch

the surrounding rocks

As we continued to drive up the road, the arch started to look more and more like a cave, with no light shining through the opening anymore

At this point the arch looks mostly just like a cave

heading back on the road from where we stopped for Indian Ridge Arch

beautiful views as we continued the drive

This fence was visible quite a bit of the time, it went in zig-zagged patterns. We went through it a couple times.

We decided to leave the main trail to follow a less-prominent side trail through the grass that took us up onto the ridge. We thought it might take us to the coordinates for the arch since it appeared that the main road would be veering off to the left and away from the arch. I am very glad we took this side trail because we got to see beautiful views, and we got to see the arch from above. But if we'd stayed on the main trail all along, it would have taken us straight to the arch from below.

looking back down on the main trail from up on the ridge, that is where we went through the fence earlier

the fence zig-zagging over the mountainside

The trail is not very prominent, but you can tell where other cars have driven through the grass

driving up onto the top

a very unique tree along the trail

view from the ridge trail

it took us right up on top of that ridge

we drove along the top of the ridge until the road ended and we couldn't drive any farther

This is the end of the road. It's someone's grave.

We got out of the car and started looking around for the arch. The arch is in the center of this photo.

I used my zoom lens to look at the arch. I could very clearly tell it was the arch.

The second opening in the arch is not visible in any of the photos from the ridge above. You can only see that second opening from below the arch, or from the slope across from the arch.

This is the best view of the arch from the ridge above

This is where we parked the jeep and started to walk down the slope to get a better look at the arch. That's Carl, our friend who drove us in his jeep.

My husband headed down the slope for a better view of the arch

The mountain below the arch

looking down into the valley

surrounding rock

the dome beside the arch

In this photo you can see both of the arch openings, including the smaller one

This photo also shows both of the arch openings

This is probably the best photo of the arch from the facing slope

looking back up at where we left Carl and the jeep

view off the side of the slope

view back up the slope to where we parked the jeep

while walking up the slope, looking back at the arch, which is right next to that dome in the center of this photo

looking back down the slope from where we were standing for photos of the arch. The arch is in the far right in this photo.

The arch is on the far left in this photo -- view from the slope

the view from the slope

we were at about 10,000 feet in elevation. It was hard work climbing back up the slope

view back at the arch (in the center of this photo)

zooming in on the arch again (center of photo)

view from part-way back up the slope

there were very beautiful views from up that high

This amazing feature was visible from our spot on the ridge as well as while we were driving for part of the time. We thought it looked like an alligator back or triceratops back and it reminded us of Devil's Slide in Utah.

back on top of the slope

This grave is at the end of the ridge, where the road ends

The grave says Bernard our Friend and is dated from 1933 to 1973

beautiful views from the ridge as we were driving back down on this side trail - I loved the shadows of the clouds on the mountains

heading back off the ridge

about to join the main trail again

after we rejoined the main trail, the road narrowed and was more closely curtained by trees. We also some several cows grazing on the sides of the trail

the narrow road does turn to the right after going down into the valley, and veers towards the arch coordinates

This horse coral is close to the arch location

this cabin is next to the coral, along the trail

another small building near the fence

these buildings are very close to the end of the road, and the arch

This was our very first sighting of the arch! Just to the left of the dome

We pulled over and I got out of the car to take some photos before we moved in closer. The arch is along the sky line, in about the center of this photo

You can see both openings in the arch

I think the arch looks like owl eyes

We moved closer to the arch and got some better photos

There's a large tree blocking the view

This small muddy pond is at the base of the hill with the arch.

the arch is on the far left along the skyline in this photo. The road ends at that fence line

the arch is on the very edge of the photo along the skyline

It looks like it would be pretty easy to climb up the slope and stand underneath the arch. We didn't dare to because of the grizzly bear in the area

The Bear Pass Arch

Bear Pass Arch: Owl Eyes

looking up the hill at the arch

This is where the road ends -- it says no motor vehicles beyond this point. This is where the bow hunter came walking in from when he said a grizzly was circling him and was 400 yards back

You can see the cool zig zag fence really well in this photo - no cars beyond this point

You can barely see the arch up there on the sky line, to the left of the dome

That's as close as I dared to get to the arch because of the grizzly bear nearby

Carl turned the jeep around and got ready to head back down Bear Pass. The arch is along the skyline

I didn't see any grizzly prints in the mud around this small pond, although there were other animal prints

view of the horse coral and cabin as we headed back

On the way back down we came across the Indian Ridge Arch again, and in the late afternoon light it appears to only be a cave. We were very lucky on the way up to be able to see the light shining through it.

In this photo you can tell it's an arch. I look forward to going back and hiking above and under this arch.

beautiful views on the way down

I took these screenshots of google maps before leaving on the trip, so that I had an idea what the terrain was, whether we had internet or not (which we did not, but luckily my google maps remained active as we were driving up Bear Pass and we could see that we were getting closer to the coordinates)

These are the GPS coordinates of where the very best view of Bear Pass Arch is.

This is our ultimate distance from the beginning of Bear Pass until we were viewing the arch, including the detour we took to drive along the ridge, which I recommend!

This is our route, including the little detour to drive along the ridge. The red dot is the arch. The green dot is the beginning of Bear Pass

These are our stats from the trip up to Bear Pass Arch, beginning at Bear Pass. It is from my Map my Run app, so it thought we were running (hence the calories burned)

My husband and I with Bear Pass Arch behind us -- barely discernable on the ridgeline

My husband and I with our friend Carl in front of his jeep with the arch in the background

Other Arches in the Area

Blackwater Natural Bridge (Cody, Wyoming)

Sheep Mesa Arch (Cody, Wyoming)

Warm Springs Natural Bridges (Dubois, Wyoming)

Yellowstone Natural Bridge

Clear Creek Natural Bridge (Green River)

Elephant Arch (Lander, Wyoming)

Field Station Arch (Lander, Wyoming)

Morton Arch (Morton, Wyoming)

Red Canyon Arch (Lander, Wyoming)

Indian Ridge Arch (Dubois, Wyoming)

Bear Pass Arch (Dubois, Wyoming)

Places to Eat in Dubois:

There are a few places to eat in Dubois, including at the new bowling alley, but my very favorite place to eat in Dubois is The Canteen at the military museum. That's where we ate after visiting the Indian Ridge Arch and Bear Pass Arch. Their food is excellent! Their google maps location is here: The Canteen