Granite – Bedrock of the Earth

Credit:  Linda & Dr. Dick Buscher

1.  John Muir once described the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range of Central California as the “Range of Light” because of the reflected sunlight that always seems to glisten from the many majestic peaks.  He said that these majestic granite peaks were “so luminous, that it seems to be not clothed with light, but wholly composed of it, like the wall of some celestial city.”  

Credit:  Linda & Dr. Dick Buscher

2.  Granite is so common here that it is called the “stone heart of the Sierra.”  Geologists believe that these exposed mountain top granite peaks extend downward into the earths crust for over 20 miles.  In fact, granite is a prime product of tectonic plate collisions, forming the major part of the North American Continent’s foundation - the bedrock.  Massive outcroppings of granite can be found in over thirty states of the United States.  

 

 Credit:  Linda & Dr. Dick Buscher

3.  Granite is an igneous rock, formed by the solidification and cooling of magma some 20 – 140 miles below the earth’s crust.  In this underground region temperatures reach 1,500∞ C. forming pockets of liquid magma. Three factors come into play, allowing the magma to begin its journey toward the surface; the underground lithostatic pressure, some 35,000 times greater than atmospheric pressure, the magma being less dense than the surrounding solid rock, resulting in the magma “floating” upward and the melting of adjacent rock during its upward journey creating spaces into which the magma flows.

Credit:  Linda & Dr. Dick Buscher

4.  As the magma cools to about 1000∞ C, small crystals of minerals such as feldspar, quartz, mica and more begin to form.  The process is very slow and as the different mineral crystals begin to grow together, they begin to create an interlocking atomic framework.  After a long cooling period, the molten magma solidifies, creating a hard stone made totally of inter-grown crystals.  It is these interlocking crystals that give granite its unique glitter and sparkle.

Credit:  Linda & Dr. Dick Buscher

5.  Some of the highest mountain ranges in the world (the Andes, the Himalayas as well as the Rockies) are composed of massive granite mountains.  In the United States, both Mt. Whitney (14,505ft/4,421m) and Mt. McKinley (20,320 ft/ 6,194m) are both granite plutons, part of an even more massive granite blatholith.  And when the forces of erosion begin to remove softer rock layers interspersed with the hard granite, magnificent valleys are formed like the Yosemite Valley shown here.  

  
Credit:  Linda & Dr. Dick Buscher

6.  In the Yosemite Valley the force of erosion responsible for carving such a natural paradise were massive glaciers.  For the last 30 million years glaciers have moved into and then retreated from the valley.  The last period of glaciation occurred during the Pleistocene Epoch ending only 11,700 years ago.  Ahead of the advancing ice is pushed tons of gravel, sand and granite boulders known as till which marks the end of the glacial advance.  

Credit:  Linda & Dr. Dick Buscher

7.  Other forces of erosion and weathering are always working to tear down the massive granite mountains and outcroppings.  Exfoliation joints of sheet joints are parallel surface fractures in granite rock that lead to the “peeling off” of the rock surface similar to that of peeling off the layers of an onion.  Exfoliation joints are common in many different geological areas and geologists continue to work on an agreeable theory of exfoliation joint formation. 

Credit:  Linda & Dr. Dick Buscher

8.   Exfoliation has causes the formation of some of the most spectacular of granite mountain features known as granite exfoliation domes.  These unique natural structures are found in granite mountain ranges worldwide.  From Corcovado Mountain in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to Stone Mountain in American state of Georgia, to Half Dome (shown here) of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, granite domes create awe-inspiriting natural features unique to granite.  

Credit:  Linda & Dr. Dick Buscher

9.  In many areas where granite bedrock is close to the surface, topsoil is very shallow.  Plant roots, like those of this ponderosa pine tree (Pinus ponderosa), seek any small crack in the hard granite rock to anchor the majestic tree to the hillside.   The intrusion of plant roots continues the weathering process of these great, granite mountains.  

Credit:  Linda & Dr. Dick Buscher

10.  Tree roots and lichen work on this group of granite boulders in the mountainous areas near Keystone, South Dakota.  These forms of biological weathering work with the forces of erosion to constantly break down the massive mountains of granite   

Credit:  Linda & Dr. Dick Buscher

11.  The Grand Teton is the highest mountain in the Grant Teton National Park of Wyoming.  Here silica-rich magma crystallized deep underground and the moved upward to form the park’s highest granite peaks. 

Credit:  Linda & Dr. Dick Buscher

12.  El Capitan is a granite monolith found in Yosemite National Park.  It rises some 3,000 feet (900 m) from the floor of the Yosemite Valley.  The coarse grain granite that makes up the marvelous wall is approximately 100 million years old.  It is the largest monolith of granite in the world.

Credit:  Linda & Dr. Dick Buscher

13.  El Capitan is also one of the favorite rock climbing venues in the world.  It was first climbed in 1958 and today over 70 big wall routes allow climbers from all over the world to make the ascent.  The 3,000-foot climb has been made in less than 2 hours but the average climbing party takes between 4 – 6 days.  During the climbing season, from spring to fall, dozens of climbers can be seen on the face of this granite giant, moving slowly toward the towering summit.

Credit:  Linda & Dr. Dick Buscher

14.  The granite mountains of the world are not only used by outdoor enthusiasts but also by the world’s great rock sculptors.  The giant heads of the four American Presidents were carved by Gutzon and Lincoln Borglum into the granite face of Mt Rushmore in South Dakota.  The Precambrian period batholith magma rose into pre-existing mica schist some 1.6 billion years ago resulting in this granite outcropping.  Carving of the monument began in 1927 and was stopped in 1941.

Credit:  Linda & Dr. Dick Buscher

15.  Thus is the story of the granite, a major product of tectonic plate collision.  Mankind has used it for centuries to build his homes as well as his most spectacular buildings.  And, because it is so naturally hard, it has resisted the forces of erosion and weathering for eons resulting in the formation of some of the most spectacular places on earth.

Coronado National Memorial Park

Credit: NPS
    1.        Along the international border between the United States and Mexico, on the southeastern slope of a sky island known as the Huachuca (Wah-choo-ka) Mountains and south of the small desert town of Sierra Vista, Arizona, the National Park System operates and oversees a unique and remote national memorial park.   There are thirty national memorials across the United States and some are quite famous, like the Lincoln Memorial, Pearl Harbor Memorial and the Martin Luther King Memorial.   But this Arizona high desert national memorial is dedicated to people and events that occurred some 236 years before the United States was even a country.  It commemorates one of the greatest European expeditions ever to take place in the Americas - the 1540 - 1542 expedition in search of the Cibola - the fabled Seven Cities of Gold by a Spanish army led by Francisco Vásquez de Coronado.   

             

Credit: NPS
2.   The Coronado National Memorial is a  4,830.22 acres (19.5472 km2) park and preserve originally established as an international park in 1939 in a hope to “advance the relationship of the United States and Mexico upon a friendly basis of cultural understanding…” to encourage the advancement of both counties common interests.  The park was located here because the mountains that encompass Coronado National Memorial overlook the vast San Pedro River Valley, shown above - the valley Coronado and his men traveled when they first entered today’s United States from Mexico some 67 years before the founding of the English colony of Jamestown, VA.

Credit: University of Southern Florida
3.   The story of the 1540 - 1542 Coronado’s Expedition has its genesis in the conquest of the Mexica (Aztec) people during the siege of 1519 - 1521 and led by Hernán Cortés, shown above.  After the conquest, Cortés had to return to Spain to face charges of improper treatment of the Mexica people.  In his absence, a new group of Spanish conquistadors, priests, soldiers and merchants arrived in the Valley of Mexico to govern and build a permanent Spanish colony in the New World.  

 
Credit: NPS & artist José Cisneros
4.  Now new men of Spain or under the ownership of Spain began to flow into what would become the modern countries of Mexico and the United States.  A group of four Spanish conquistadors along with a Black, Moorish slave known in history as Esteban or Estevanico, survived a shipwreck in the Gulf of Mexico and wandered across modern Texas and the deserts of the American Southwest and Mexico between 1528 - 1536 before coming upon a group of Spanish soldiers who rescued them in northern Mexico.  During their odyssey they were told of fabled Seven Cities of Gold, called Cibola, that according to the native people with whom they spoke, lay further to the north.  An artist rendition of Esteban is shown above. 

Credit: Linda & Dr. Dick Buscher
5.  A Spanish Franciscan friar named Fray Marcos de Niza had arrived in the City of Mexico in 1531 and in 1538 agreed to accompany the Moorish slave Esteban to the unknown regions to the north in search of the Seven Cities of Gold.  Historians believe that in May 1539 Esteban and Fray Marcos de Niza became the first African and first European to enter the southwest region of what would become the United States along the southern boundary of today’s Arizona.  A monument to their entry is located near the small ghost mining town of Lochiel, Arizona and is shown above.  The result of their journey was that Esteban was killed by the Zuni Indians in what is today’s northern New Mexico and Fray de Niza rushed back to City of Mexico and reported that he did actually did see Cibola - the Seven Cities of Gold! 

Credit: NPS
6.  Hernán Cortés once wrote, “We Spaniards know a sickness of the heart that only gold can cure” and Fray de Niza’s arrival back into the capital city set the hearts of this new generation of young conquistadors a blaze.  A thirty year old noble, Francisco Vázquez de Coronado was selected by then Governor Antonio de Mendoza to lead a large Spanish army of soldiers and native porters to the north to claim these golden cities for the King of Spain.  On February 22, 1540 Francisco Vázquez de Coronado left Compostela with a army of 336 Spanish conquistadors, 3 women and 761 Indian porters north to conquer Cibola under the banner of the Castilian flag.  Coronado. Fray de Niza and a small advanced portion of his army moved north ahead of the main part of his army.  This advanced group entered what is now the State of Arizona near today’s Coronado National Memorial Park along the San Pedro River Valley May 1540.

Credit: Linda & Dr. Dick Buscher
7.  The two year journey of Coronado and a small part of this army into the American southwest and plains provide many “first” in the annals of American history.   In the small pueblo known as Hawikuh in today’s northeastern New Mexico, the first battle between Europeans and Native Americans occurred on July 7, 1540.  Since Hawikuh, shown in ruins in the above 2006 photo,  was simply a small pueblo made of mud and stone and not of gold, distrust in Fray de Niza’s story of Cibola began to grow.  But Coronado was now injured having received a hail of stones thrown at his head and an arrow to his leg.  While recovering from his battle injuries, he ordered his officers to explore.  Twenty-two year old Hernando de Alvarado the designated “Captain of the Artillery”, traveled to the northeast and while entering today’s states of Texas and Oklahoma became the first European to see and dine on the American buffalo.  Captain Don García López de Cárdenas, led by a group of Hopi Indians, became the first European to gaze into the depths of the Grand Canyon. 

Credit: NPS
8. Coronado would recover from his wounds.  His first order of business was to send Fray Marcos de Niza back to the City of Mexico for his own safety as his men had become convinced the good Fray had lied about Cibola.   But Coronado and his army of conquistodors were soon back on the trail in search of Cibola.  This time they were told of a “Golden City” to the northeast known as Quivira.  They began their march to Quivira on April 23, 1541.  When they arrived at this pueblo, somewhere on the plains of central Kansas, they once again found only a poor village made of mud and stone.   Disheartened, Coronado and his men  turned their horses south and began their journey back to the City of Mexico arriving in April 1542. He was labeled a failure for not finding gold and died on September 22, 1554 never receiving the accolades for his accomplishments during his journey of exploration.   And even though Coronado did not find the Seven Cities of Gold, he and his men did open the northern lands for a future generation of Spanish soldiers, priests and settlers to travel there and begin to establish permanent Spanish settlements at the beginning of the 17th Century.  Some historians have argued that United States history actually began with the Coronado Expedition as he and/or his men were the first Europeans to travel through the future states of California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas.

Credit: NPS
9.  The Huachuca Mountains, home to the Coronado National Memorial Park, is one of 27 Sky Islands found in the Madera Sky Island Archipelago.  It is a region of over 70,000 square miles (181,299 km²) that is the biological meeting point of two great mountain ranges - the Rocky Mountains of the north and the Sierra Madre Mountains of the south.  Here over the eons of geological time the valley floors have sunk resulting in sky island mountain peaks rising to over 9,000 feet in elevation above the Sonoran Desert floor.  The Huachuca Mountains, and Indian name that translates to mean “mountain of water” are within the boundary of the Coronado National Forest and the highest peak of the Huachuca Mountains rises to an elevation of 9,466 ft (2,885 m).  Coronado National Memorial Park sits at the eastern end of the Huachuca Mountains and the highest  peak within the park, known as Coronado Peak, rises to an elevation of 6,864 feet (2092 m).

Credit: NPS
10.  Mexico was unable to ever develop their side of the intended international park.  So, in July 1952 the United Staes Congress removed “international” from the park’s name and authorized designation of the park as a national Memorial.  President Harry S. Truman officially designed the Coronado National Memorial Park on November 5, 1952.  Finally, Coronado National Memorial Park was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966.  At an average elevation within the park of 4,000 feet (1,219 m), the park preserves a unique and desolate desert landscape.

Credit: NPS
11.  One of the more adventurous experiences while visiting the national memorial park is a visit to Coronado Cave.  A short hike brings the explorer to a 600 foot (183 m) long, 20 foot (6 m) high limestone cave.  This spectacular cave, as shown above, requires no rappelling or squeezing through tight passageways but just a casual walk through rooms and areas 6 to 70 feet (2 - 21 m) wide.  Old West legends suggest that native Apache Indians, including the great Chiricahua Apache shaman, Geronimo, often camped and hid out in Coronado Cave during the Apache Wars of 1849 - 1886.

Credit: NPS
12. Within the boundary of the Coronado National Memorial a vast and diverse community of desert plants thrive.  Emory oaks and Gambel oak trees dominate a large part of the park.  Scrubland vegetation as well as non-native grasslands dominate parts of the lower elevations of the land.  Various yucca plants, like those shown above, and other high Sonoran Desert vegetation species are also common within the park.  In such a rugged and isolated region, 36 species of reptiles, 7 species of amphibians, 170 species of birds and 44 species of mammals are all found at Coronado National Memorial Park.

Credit: NPS
13.  Coronado National Memorial Park commemorates one of the greatest explorations ever to occur on the North American continent.  The San Pedro River Valley was one of the super highways of the 1540s and Francisco Vázquez de Coronado and his men used in in search of gold.   The memorial park is not highly visited, receiving some 5.5 million fewer visitors than the Grand Canyon.  But for those who choose to come, they will be rewarded with a peaceful adventure in one of the most desolate yet beautiful desert parks in America. 


More information - https://www.americansouthwest.net/arizona/coronado/national_memorial.html

Pipe Spring National Monument

Credit:  Linda & Dr. Dick Buscher
1.  The Arizona Strip is a desolate and vast region of northern Arizona consisting of nearly 3 million acres (1,214,057 ha) that is separated from the rest of Arizona by the magnificent Grand Canyon. The strip stretches for more than 7,800 square miles (20,202 km²) from the southern Utah border to the 277 miles (446 km) length of the northern rim of the Grand Canyon.  For early travelers, the difficulty in crossing the Grand Canyon resulted in the strip being isolated from the rest of Arizona while taking on cultural traditions and norms more closely associated with the settlement of Utah.  Yet, this barren and remote land has long played an important and critical role in the history of this part of America.   

 

Credit:  NPS
2.  Native Americans have long made this arid land their homes.  Ancient Puebloans were the first to live and prosper in the region with archeological artifacts found here dating back over 8,000 years. The Southern Paiute people have claimed this high desert land as a part of their homeland since 1100.  They dug small irrigation ditches in the desert soil to bring the water from desert springs into their fields of squash, sunflowers, pumpkin and corn.  NPS photo above was taken in 1878 and shows three Southern Paiute girls carrying baskets sealed with pine pitch. 

Credit:  NPS
3.  The first Europeans to pass through the Arizona Strip were a party lead by Spanish missionary Father Silvestre Vélez de Escalante.  Spanish conquistadors and priests had visited the South Rim of the Grand Canyon in 1540 as a part of the Coronado Expedition but Father Escalante and his party first viewed the Grand Canyon from the North Rim in 1776.  In 1829, Spanish merchant Antonio Armijo, shown above, arrived in this land hoping to establish a trade route from Santa Fe, New Mexico to Los Angeles, California.  Toward the north central region of the Arizona Strip just south of what today is the Utah/Arizona border, he came upon a series of springs that brought fresh water to the surface of the desert land.  Armijo documented the springs and continued his trailblazing of the Old Spanish Trail. 

 

Credit:  NPS
4.  From 1830 to the mid-1850s, the Old Spanish Trail saw extensive use by pack trains carrying goods and people over the 700 mile (1,100 km) long trail.  It was considered one of the most difficult of all trade-route trails ever established in the United States.  One sad chapter of that trade was the opening of slave trade market by the Spanish merchants, capturing and removing Paiute women and children from their Arizona Strip homes.  Soon raiding Navajos and Utes began working for the Spanish, capturing and selling the Paiute women and children.  As a result, the Paiute people moved away from the springs of water first documented by Armijo that had long been a Paiute homesite to protect their women and children. Archeologists believe that the Southern Paiutes Kaibab band had a population of about 5,500 individuals at the time of European arrival into the Americas in 1492.  By 1860 the Southern Paiute population was estimated to be as few as 200 individuals. 

Credit:  Washington County Historical Society
5.  Mormon pioneers began exploring and moving into the Arizona Strip by the late 1850s.  The life-giving springs, first documented by Antonio Armijo, were rediscovered by a group of Latter-day Saint missionaries in 1858 traveling to the Hopi mesas and led by legendary Morman trailblazer Jacob Hamblin.  This expedition would name the area Pipe Spring.  Western lore states this name originated when William “Gunlock Bill” Haynes Hamblin, brother of Jacob Hamblin, bragged that he could shoot and hit a clay smoking pipe at a distance of 50 paces.  Gunlock Bill’s aim was perfect and the site has been known as Pipe Spring ever since.  

Credit:  Linda & Dr. Dick Buscher
6.  During the 1860s Mormon settlers brought herds of cattle to the Pipe Spring area and its reliable source of fresh water.  Navajo raiders from the south began poaching the cattle and in 1872 a fort, shown above, was built over the main spring of water by the first ranch manager, Anson Perry Winsor. This location assured that the settlers who worked the ranch would have a continual source of fresh water even during a prolonged attack. The fort soon became known as Winsor Castle and became the headquarters of the areas ever expanding Mormon cattle operation.  Winsor Castle also served as a way station for the many Mormon families traveling from Utah to northeastern Arizona to begin new Mormon communities.  

 

 Credit:  Linda & Dr. Dick Buscher
7.  Winsor Castle was never tested in battle and soon became used only as a ranch house and later as a private residence.  Since Winsor Castle covers Pipe Spring itself, the fresh water from Pipe Spring runs underground through a series of pipes before an open trough carries it across one room of the castle then emerging to the outside and filling two nearby ponds.  See photo above. 

 

Credit:  NPS
8.  Winsor Castle, as well as later built cabins were constructed by the quarrying of red sandstone from  local hillsides.  Local timber was harvested from trees growing in the nearby mountains and hauled to the construction site.  The castle is made up of ten rooms on two levels.  In two of the wall sections, the doors and windows face inward to a central courtyard totally inclosed by a high wall.  The upper walls were constructed with verandas connected together by an elevated corridor above the main gate.  Gun ports were strategically built into the walls but were never used in a battle.  A map of Pipe Spring is shown above.

 

 Credit:  NPS
9.  As Mormon settlement increased throughout southern Utah and the Arizona Strip the need to communicate with these distant settlements became a great concern for church leaders in Salt Lake City, Utah.  In 1871 the Deseret Telegraph Company set the poles and strung the necessary wire across this high desert landscape to Pipe Spring establishing the first telegraph station in the Territory of Arizona. Eliza Luella Stewart, age 16, became the first telegraph operator at Pipe Spring.  During the telegraph’s years of operation from 1871 - 1888, seven other women served as the Pipe Spring telegraph operator.

Credit:  Linda & Dr. Dick Buscher
10.   The famous Honeymoon Trail is an integral part of the Pipe Spring story.  Beginning in 1877, young Mormon couples living in Northern Arizona and Southwest Utah needed to travel to the Mormon Temple located in St. George, Utah to get their marriage vows sealed. The Mormon Temple in St. George was the first temple completed and dedicated west of the Mississippi River. The journey could be short or several hundred miles in length depending on where the couple lived.  It could take a few days or several weeks since their horse drawn wagons could only cover about 15 miles (24 km) each day.  They had to cross a desolate land with many potential hardships.  Most spent many nights sleeping on the ground under a canopy of a million stars.  The fresh water of Pipe Spring was a welcome rest station for these newly wed travelers.  Thousands of newly married couples made this challenging journey.  Shown above is a section of the Honeymoon Trail still scarred into the high desert floor on the Arizona Strip in northern Arizona. 

    

Credit:  NPS
11.  In 1907 the Kaibab Paiute Indian Reservation was established.  The reservation surrounded the privately owned Pipe Spring Ranch.  In 1923 the ranch was purchased from the tribe.  In May 1923 in President Warren G. Harding declared Pipe Spring a national monument to commemorate Western pioneer life.  The National Park Service is now responsible for the maintenance of the ranch, preserving it as it once was in its heyday.  The establishment of Pipe Spring National Monument was a part of a decade of development of parks and highways in southern Utah and northern Arizona to enhance the tourism business.   

Credit:  NPS
12.  Today, Pipe Spring National Monument is composed of 40 acres (16 ha) and receives over 25,000 visitors each year.  Many of those visitors stop here before continuing on to nearby Zion National Park, one of Utah’s Mighty Five national parks.  But for those who take the time to take the park ranger tour, a new appreciation for and understanding of the challenges of settling and carving out a living in this remote area of the American Southwest is surely gained.    

 

Credit:  Linda & Dr. Dick Buscher
13.  Pipe Spring National Monument is a wonderfully preserved settlement of the Old West.  For thousands of years men and animals have come to this site to refresh in the cool waters from the underground springs.  It has been and continues to be an oasis in the high desert.  Late spring through early fall are the best seasons to visit and this national monument is a “must see” for all who cherish the history of the American West. 

 

 

Rainbow Bridge National Monument

Credit: NPS
1.  The American West is a land of spectacular landscapes and unique geological formations.  Views like  Oxbow Bend, shown above, from Dead Horse Point State Park near Canyonlands National Park, Utah, are easy to access by modern, paved roads.  But some of The West’s most spectacular formations, require a little more effort to reach but the experience and the views are well worth the effort.  One such remote vista is Rainbow Bridge National Monument along the shores of Lake Powell in the State of Utah.  

 Credit: Linda & Dr,  Dick Buscher
2.   Rainbow Bridge National Monument is small in size, only 160 square acres (65 ha) and is under the protection of the rangers of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area.  Due to its remoteness, Rainbow Bridge National Monument is currently accessible only by two, 14+ mile (23 km) hiking trails leading from Navajo Mountain or a two-hour boat ride from one of three marinas located on Lake Powell and then a 1.5 mile (2.4 km) hike.  The natural rock bridge rises 290 feet (88 m) above Bridge Creek and has a span over Bridge Creek of 275 feet (84 m).  The top of the arch is 42 feet (13 m) thick and 33 feet (10 m) wide.

Credit: USGS
3.  Rainbow Bridge National Monument is located in the Four Corners area on the massive Colorado Plateau, a 240,000 square mile (386,242 sq km) region of spectacular geological formations and natural beauty.  It is hidden away in Bridge Canyon, one of the many isolated canyons at the base of Navajo Mountain and one of nearly 100 named canyons that surround Lake Powell.  Long known by Native American tribes, Rainbow Bridge is called by the Navajo People Nonnezoshe, which translates to means “rainbow turned to stone.”

 Credit: NPS
4.  The genesis of Rainbow Bridge began in the late Triassic Period and continues through the Jurassic Period between 187 sf 200 million years ago.  During this span of time the whole Colorado Plateau region alternated between shallow seas and desert regions similar to today’s Sahara Desert.  This ebb and flow of water resulted in the grains of ancient sand dunes being dispersed into thick layers of sediment ultimately forming sandstone with different degrees of hardness.  Modern geologist acknowledge that Rainbow Bridge is made up entirely of Navajo Sandstone which overlies the thick layers of sandstone, shale and limestone known as the Kayenta Formation which is exposed underneath the bridge. 

Credit: NPS
5.  During the last great ice age, multiple regional creeks flowed from the surrounding mountains, seeking their way to the ancestral Colorado River.  Bridge Creek was one such stream.  Its waters slowly carved through the softer rocks flowing away from the harder Navajo Sandstone of Rainbow Bridge.  These waters created a wide, hairpin curve that flowed around the solid geological fin of sandstone ( see picture above).  But running water is a constant abrasive upon rock and over time, the sediment in Bridge Creek broke away the softer layers of sandstone while leaving the harder layers of Navajo Sandstone behind in the shape of Rainbow Bridge.

 Credit: NPS
6.  In the world of geology, a natural bridge differs from a natural arch by the way it is formed.  Natural bridges, like Rainbow Bridge, are created by the erosive forces of flowing water and span ravines and/or valleys.  Arches, like those commonly found at Arches National Park, do not span ravines and/or valleys and are formed by the forces of weathering and rockfalls along fractures and joints.  

Credit: NPS
7.  Diversity is the usual description for the plants and animals that are found in and round Rainbow Bridge National Monument.  Grassland and shrubland are the two dominate plant communities found within the monument.  In addition some 7 species of amphibians, 311 species of birds, 27 species of fish, 64 species of mammals and 28 species of reptiles can be found within the monuments boundary.  Life giving fresh water is provided not only by Lake Powell but also by Bridge Creek, shown above, which is one of several local creeks that drain the rain and snow that fall upon Navajo Mountain. 

Credit: NPS
8.  A unique plant community found along the trail leading to Rainbow Bridge is that known as a hanging garden.  Hanging gardens are surprisingly common in the canyons of the Colorado Plateau.  The hanging garden of Rainbow Bridge is composed of a diverse water loving plants such as orchids, lilies, sedges and ferns.  The hanging garden is teeming with life as upwards to 35 species of endemic plants as well as terrestrial and aquatic invertebrates, birds, mammals and amphibians all take advantage of the seeping water from the sandstone rock to carrying on their life activities.  Shown above are species of Helleborine orchids and maidenhair ferns, both found in the hanging garden of Rainbow Bridge National Monument.

Credit: NPS
9.  Of the 311 species of birds that visit the national monument, the Southwestern Willow Catcher, Empidonax traillii extimus, shown above, is one of the more interesting.  Placed on the Endangered Species list in 1995, these little flycatchers have a large impart on a regions insect population.  It commonly nests within arid region riparian areas, taking advantage of all the insect life that comes to the fresh water. Southwestern Willow Catchers are insectivores dining on a variety of both flying and terrestrial insects such as gnats, flies, beetles, butterflies and caterpillars.  They employ a “sit and wait” strategy, locating their prey by sight before speeding out to capture it.  Loss of habitat, livestock grazing and invasive species all pose a threat to their survival as a species. 

  
Credit: NPS
10. Kangaroo rats, Microdipodops pallidus, shown above, are a common mammal found within Rainbow Bridge National Monument.  With their long tails, big four-toed hind feet, small ears and big brown eyes, they are perfectly adapted to this high desert region.  Even though plenty of fresh water is available here, kangaroo rats have evolved to surviving without drinking water, acquiring their needed moisture from the seeds that they eat.  In some regions they are known as kangaroo mice and are represented by some 23 different species within their family classification.  They have excellent hearing even appearing to be able to hear the muffled sound of an approaching owl.  Their large back legs can propel them upwards to 9 feet (2.75m) when startled and escaping a predator.

Credit: NPS
11.  Rainbow Bridge has a long tradition in the history of the Native American people who have long called these desert lands their home.  Within the Hopi tradition, the Snake Clan People of Navajo Mountain were the first Hopi clan to arrive at the Hopi mesas in northern Arizona.  The sandstone bridge is credited in Hopi legend as the a source of aboriginal knowledge.  The region of Rainbow Bridge was a sanctuary for the Hopi people during the Great Pueblo Revolt of 1680. Within the Navajo tradition, Rainbow Bridge plays an integral part of their origin story which explains their emergence into this world.  Rainbow Bridge is also the place for the Navajo people where Monster Slayer and Born for Water return to the sacred Navajo land after their journey to Father Sun.

Credit: Linda & Dr,  Dick Buscher
12. At times since the completing of Glen Canyon Dam in 1963, the waters of Lake Powell have risen so high that they flow under Rainbow Bridge, as seen above.  The last time this event occurred was in 1999 when the waters of Lake Powell rose to a level of 3,696 feet (1,127 m).  The waters that backed-up under Rainbow Bridge rose to a depth of 43 feet (13 m).  At such lake depth, visiting Rainbow Bridge is an easier adventure with no hiking involved.  Currently, September 14, 2019, the depth of Lake Powell is at 3,617 feet (1,102 m) and is holding 4,381,991,363,935 gallons of water. 

Credit: NPS
13.  Like all geological formations, Rainbow Bridge will someday fall to the forces of erosion and weathering.  Current National Park geologists insist that the bridge is currently strong and stable.  And even though the bridge naturally expands upwards to 1 inch. (2.57 cm) in diameter due to the normal summer heat patterns, this expansion and contraction has been going on for thousands of years and will likely continue to do so.  Rainbow Bridge is just another of the many amazing natural wonders located on the Colorado Plateau.  For all who love to marvel at the spectacle of natural creation, it is an awesome place to experience.