Skip to main content

2016 Fall Mountain Trip Part 17; Natural Bridges National Monument and Utah State Route 275

By
After leaving Arches National Park I headed southward on US Route 191 towards Natural Bridges National Monument.


The road on US 191 south of Moab enters San Juan County in Spanish Valley.  US 191 is one of the primary roadways in southeastern Utah and is well graded.  My next turn was west on UT 95 in Blanding but I did cross a significant junction with US Route 491 in Monticello which was part of US 666.


In Blanding I stopped along US 191 on Main Street to view the new US Bike Route 70 shield.  US BR 70 created in 2015 and is planned traverse from Colorado west to Utah.


South of Blanding I pulled off onto UT 95 westbound towards Natural Bridges National Monument.  UT 95 west to UT 275 is part of the Trail of the Ancients National Scenic Byway.  The Trail of the Ancients Scenic Byway is a 480 mile route in Colorado and Utah which tours various Native American cultural sites.


West of Blanding UT 95 enters open range territory (which will be ironically important in Part 18).  UT 95 descends to Big Canyon and Westwater Creek before making an ascent to the a high bluff where it meets UT 261 which is known as the Moki Dugway. 


In October of 2016 when I was traveling through Utah much of the land west of Blanding was fairly unremarkable in terms of designations.  In December of 2016 Bears Ear National Monument was declared which was meant to encompass much of the Bureau of Land Management held land west of Blanding to Glen Canyon National Recreation Area.  Bears Ears National Monument was shrunk by 85% in December of 2017, the original boundary can be viewed on this BLM Map.

Initial Bears Ears National Monument Map

Interestingly UT 95 is mistakenly signed as US 95 at the north terminus of UT 261.


Approximately 1 mile west from the UT 261 junction UT 95 meets UT 275.  I turned west on UT 275 which also carries the Trail of the Ancients to Natural Bridges National Monument.


UT 275 is an approximately 3.8 mile State Highway from UT 95 west to Bridge View Drive in Natural Bridges National Monument.  UT 275 was designated as a State Highway in 1975 and was apparently built over a 1960s County Highway.  The original road to Natural Bridges National Monument was a dirt track located off of UT 95 near the junction with modern UT 276.  The dirt road to Natural Bridges National Monument terminated near the Owachomo Natural Bridge.

Natural Bridges National Monument was Utah's first National Monument which was designated in 1908.  Natural Bridges National Monument protects the sandstone natural bridges of White Canyon.  White Canyon features several notable natural bridges on the one-way Bridge View Drive such as; Sipapu Bridge, Kachina Bridge, and aforementioned Owachomo Bridge.




The Sipapu Bridge in the first photo above is the 13th longest in the world at 225 feet in length.  In addition to the natural bridges one of the primary attractions is Native American ruins located in White Canyon.

From Natural Bridges National Monument I back tracked to UT 95 and headed to Blanding for the night.  Part 18 of this series can be found here:

2016 Fall Mountain Trip Part 18; Utah State Route 261 and the Moki Dugway
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Old NY 10 and Goodman Mountain in the Adirondacks

By
  Old highway alignments come in all shapes and sizes, as well as taking some different forms after their lifespan of serving cars and trucks has ended. In the case of an old alignment of what was NY 10 south of Tupper Lake, New York, part of the old road was turned into part of a hiking trail to go up Goodman Mountain. At one time, the road passed by Goodman Mountain to the east, or Litchfield Mountain as it was known at the time. As the years passed, sometime around 1960, the part of NY 10 north of Speculator became part of NY 30, and remains that way today from Speculator, past Indian Lake and Tupper Lake and up to the Canadian Border. At one time, the highway was realigned to pass the Goodman Mountain to the west, leaving this stretch of road to be mostly forgotten and to be reclaimed by nature. During the summer of 2014, a 1.6 mile long hiking trail was approved the Adirondack Park Agency to be constructed to the summit of the 2,176 foot high Goodman Mountain. For the first 0.9 mi
1 comment
Read more

Oregon State Highway 58

By
  Also known as the Willamette Highway No. 18, the route of Oregon State Highway 58 (OR 58) stretches some 86 miles between US 97 north of Chemult and I-5 just outside of Eugene, Oregon. A main route between the Willamette Valley region of Oregon with Central Oregon and Crater Lake National Park, the highway follows the Middle Fork Willamette River and Salt Creek for much of its route as it makes its way to and across the Cascades, cresting at 5,138 feet above sea level at Willamette Pass. That is a gain of over 4,500 in elevation from where the highway begins at I-5. The upper reaches of OR 58 are dominated by the principal pinnacle that can sometimes be seen from the highway, Diamond Peak, and three nearby lakes, Crescent, Odell and Waldo (Oregon's second largest lake). OR 58 is chock full of rivers, creeks, mountain views, hot springs and waterfalls within a short distance from the highway. OR 58 was numbered as such by the Oregon State Highway Department in 1940. OR 58 is a del
Post a Comment
Read more

Siuslaw River Bridge - US 101 in Florence, Oregon

By
  As the Oregon Coast Highway (US 101) was being completed across the State of Oregon during the 1930s, a number of bridges needed to be built to cross some of the state's finest rivers. In Florence, Oregon , the Siuslaw River Bridge was designed and constructed to help fill in the gaps between different coastal communities. Built in 1936, the Siuslaw River Bridge is a bascule bridge flanked by two reinforced concrete arches that spans across the Siuslaw River. The bridge and the river get their names from the Siuslaw tribal people who make their home along the river valleys of this part of the Oregon Coast. Today, the bridge provides a vital link connecting US 101 and the Central Oregon Coast to points north and south. The total length of the Siuslaw River Bridge is 1,568 feet, stretching across the river. But more specifically, the bridge is made up of a north approach with eight spans of reinforced concrete deck girder totaling 478 feet in length. There is a main span in three
Post a Comment
Read more