Winter Sunset at Natural Bridges National Monument; Breaking the Curse of Cedar Mesa in the Shadow of the Bears Ears
I’d been to the bridges before and I thought they were some amazing pieces of natural art but I hadn’t really explored them, which I felt like was the only real way to fully appreciate them. I mean, I wasn’t going to explore them this time either, it was way too cold. The temperature was hovering above zero and the wind chill was painful. Not to mention the sun was setting. I had planned on camping here for the night but two things were against me, well, three if I’m being truly honest. The first and most obvious reason to not camp in the beautiful Natural Bridges National Monument campground, of which I would have had entirely and completely to myself, was the weather. Yes, it was a very clear and gorgeous afternoon and evening and the forecast I had seen a couple hours ago before losing service did say that it would stay that way, but the temperature was unbearable. I don’t think I brought enough warm clothing to truly get a good night’s sleep. It was also supposed to be windy and a windy night with a tent sucks so I would have slept under the stars which I wouldn’t have even been able to enjoy because I would have kept my face and head deeply and securely inside the mummy sleeping bag. The second reason not to camp at the National Monument that lies just below the gorgeous Bears Ears was because of the aforementioned lack of cell service. Normally this would not be a problem and actually something to celebrate. But this time… I was in love. Well, not yet in love because I had never actually met this girl, but I was head over heels with the screen that linked me with this new woman in my life. Spoiler alert, a year later she would say yes to my marriage proposal in Paris on the banks of the Seine just beneath the Eiffel Tower’s gaze near the Pont du Bir Hakeim Monument. I was addicted to talking to her which I had been doing for a week straight, even while celebrating Christmas with my family and my very good Belarussian friend in a cabin in the Rockies. The brief time without talking to her had already been rough while I was driving past the Comb and up onto the Cedar Mesa. Which brings me to my final reason I couldn’t stay all alone on that gorgeous patch of rock that sits on my favorite place on the planet that is the Colorado Plateau: Fear. I have an irrational fear of Cedar Mesa. I would’t call it a fear per se, it’s more like a dread. It’s hard to explain…
Honestly, Cedar Mesa is amazing. It is one of the last truly wild places in the four corners area of the southwest and I hope it stays that way. There are places in Bears Ears; canyons, cliffside ruins, arches, that I will never write about because I want them to stay wild and while I wish everyone could see and experience it, I want it to stay unspoiled. It’s the adventurer’s dilemma. How do you celebrate somewhere, someplace, something that is rare without causing it to be common? I will keep doing my part.
But back to the dread. The mesa, which sits above the Valley of the Gods and just below the Abajo or Blue Mountains is a fantastic place to get lost. There are canyons, viewpoints, four wheel drive roads, famous ruins. It’s got some of the darkest skies on the Colorado Plateau. You can see Navajo Mountain, Ute Mountain in Colorado, Monument Valley, Comb Ridge, and the ever present Bears Ears. It has endless possibilities for adventure and excitement but… it’s got a presence about it. I do not believe in ghosts or hauntings or anything like that but there are two places I’ve been to where I felt unwelcome by things I couldn’t’ see. Both of these places were amongst ruins in the Southwest. It’s a feeling deep in my chest, almost imperceptible, but it’s definitely there.
The first time I visited Natural Bridges National Monument was back in 2017 on my second annual Southwestern Trip. I’d left Goblin Valley State Park after a morning of exploring the hoodoos and headed southeast on the absolutely stunning State Route 95 or the Bicentennial Highway which also forms part of the Highway of the Ancients. Going south from Goblin Valley and Hanksville you pass canyons, mountains, wonderful views, and at the Hite Crossing, you drive over the Colorado River. It’s a gorgeous drive and definitely one of my favorites, although, there are so many amazing drives throughout Utah. On that trip I ran to each overlook and took pictures and ran back to the truck out of breath before circling the campground and finding no room at the inn. That was okay though because I had a few backup plans. I could camp on the Mesa off of one of the many roads in Bears Ears or down one of the roads that borders the many canyons of Highway 261. Or I could camp at Hovenweep National Monument over on the border with Colorado. As I was making my decision though, the sky grew hazy and the sun sat hovering overhead behind thin clouds. I was on such a high and these clouds were throwing me off so I bolted for Hovenweep in the hopes that the cloud cover was gone. Which it was. On that trip the bridges had almost been an afterthought during my pursuit of the big things and places I had wanted to see. It was filler for the main plot points. But the feeling of the haze stuck with me. It had created such a malaise or melancholy, that I actively fought against it and chose to alter my plans of seeing some Ancestral Puebloan ruins rather than be enveloped by it.
Two years later I returned to the Mesa with big plans. I was going to wake up in the Valley of the Gods, drive up the Moki Dugway, check out the Overlooks that let you see all the way to Monument Valley over the Goosenecks of the San Juan, explore the canyons of Bears Ears and Cedar Mesa with its natural and ancient human beauty, and cap it all off with a night in Natural Bridges after I properly explore it. I was going to do the Full Loop of 12 miles or the shorter loop from Sipapu-Kachina at 5.7 miles or the Kachina-Owachomo Loop of 6.5 miles. Regardless of which one, I was going to get down and dirty with the ruins that dot the canyon and peer up high above to look at the Bridges as they should properly be seen. Instead, after I woke up in the best mood after a gorgeous sunrise and began climbing the Moki Dugway to start my day, a text came through my phone. It was my then girlfriend. And she was breaking up with me. Obviously, that ruined the entire day. Then the haze, that evil desert haze settled in above me. And then the rules had changed and you needed to reserve a tour of the ruins I wanted to see. Nothing was going my way and that dread was sinking into my bones. I didn’t even head over to the Natural Bridges and instead I bolted from the Mesa completely.
In March of 2020, a year after the heartbreak, I went back! I was determined to break the curse and while I didn’t succeed completely, I did have a great time exploring a canyon looking for a particular ruin that I never even found. Not only that, but I decided that it was such a short hike that I didn’t need extra water so I ran out. And 7 long thirsty miles later I was back at my truck with not an ancient brick to be seen by me. At one point I chipped out some old ice from the shaded side of the cliff and sucked on it for moisture. I was in a desperate situation. In the end I was able to laugh at the curse as I drove past the beautiful Bears Ears on my way to my next destination.
Bears Ears 2020
Now it was December 29th, 2020 and I had the entire place to myself. I drove around immediately and scoped out the best campground which I was still undecided about staying in before driving the loop road to view the beautiful bridges. The first time I had come here it was in the middle of the day so the sun had bleached out all the rocks and drowned out the bridges themselves. It had been hard to even spot them at all. But this time with the deep winter shadows, they popped from the surrounding landscapes with an intense beauty. The snow that scattered above them and on the canyon rims made the scene even more incredible. I hopped out and ran to each of the viewpoints with my camera to snap some pictures and take in the bridges. Running that high up on the Colorado plateau isn’t easy business if you’re not accustomed to it but I needed to quickly get the pictures before the sun set and also it was so cold.
After the first go around I began to circle again, the road in Natural Bridges National Monument is a one way road with many pull offs and view points. The Bears Ears are always in sight too. It’s a great loop road. My destination this time was the Owachomo Bridge. It’s got the most character and one of the easiest to get underneath and behind and around and the sun was setting perfectly behind it when I arrived the second time. So I parked, put on my shear wool leather gloves, grabbed my camera, and huffed it back to the bridge view point, except this time I hiked down the path. Along the way I snapped pictures of its width from end to end as the low winter sun hung just above the lip of the canyon. The far side of the canyon had the space below the rim lit up a light orange color and the snow seemed whiter than white. Under the bridge on the east side of it, the sun’s rays illuminated the underside of the bridge as well and I wondered if maybe I could get beneath it and see the dichotomy of light. So I climbed down and looked directly up and it was beautiful. But again, it was so cold. I was trying not to breathe through my mouth but my nose was frozen and running with the low oxygen was forcing me to gulp for the cold air. It was time to head back to the truck and hope the sunset was beautiful. Maybe the Bears Ears would even be a great back drop. I turned around to head back up the path but a thought struck me: what if the other side was completely in the light still? Duh! I ran back underneath it and then to other side where it was exactly as I had briefly imagined it. It was breath taking. Half of Owachomo was lit up by the setting sun and the light blue winter sky above softened the entire image. I vowed right then that next time I’m here I for real need to do the giant loop trail that goes under all of the bridges in the bottom of the canyon.
Back at the truck I blasted the heat and sped around to the other side because my instincts were right again. The sunset was turning the Ears and the sky to the east a pink and purple color and the snow and rocks made it all amazing. I was still the only one there and I couldn’t help but smile from ear to ear. I pulled over a few times at various viewpoints of the Bears Ears but I wanted to get just a little closer… just a little closer… until finally I found the perfect spot. I bundled up again, grabbed my camera, climbed into the bed of the truck, and then onto the freezing roof of the cab where I sat enjoying one of the prettiest sunsets I'd ever seen.
To the west the colors were chasing the sun over the horizon in oranges and yellows, and to the east the blues and pinks and purples slid down the sky and the Bears Ears. I sipped whiskey from the bottle and attempted to stay warm but my face had long since lost feeling and my hands were starting to ache. I was wearing my gloves but occasionally I had to take them off to adjust some setting on the camera. But once it was all done, I had made up my mind. It was way too freakin’ cold. And now it was almost dark so it would be tough to eat, set up my tent or bag, and enjoy the last bit of day before I passed out. Plus, my future fiancé was just over the Comb Ridge and in Monticello waiting for me to send pictures and update her on my little adventure. So I put the truck in gear and took off for civilization. Just before I reached the Monument’s entrance though, the moon began to sneak up into the newly night sky just behind the left Ear. And it was a full and a bright and an enormous moon. I cheered out loud at the beauty and the luck and rolled down my window to snap some more photos from the comfort of the blowing heat and with the sounds of my best of 2020 playlist blasting from my Tacoma’s speakers. The beauty was too much though and I was forced onto the roof of the cab again. Every second the seemingly enormous moon rose, showing more of itself. But as it rose it grew smaller but somehow brighter until it was just the same old moon. Except this one was over me and me alone in this amazing part of the American Southwest. I was grateful I wasn’t sleeping there because of the painful cold but as the excitement of the beautiful scene began to wear off, that old familiar haunting dread set in again. I had to get off this mesa and fast. Curses are tough to break.
