Natural Bridges National Monument

 “In my opinion, plumbs are a little over rated.”

Oh hi Bakey!

Admittedly, the above rant was a bit tame. But it was still funny considering how little mom and I were actually endorsing plumbs.

So, as you were probably able to ascertain, we went on our little spring break trip. It wasn’t Death Valley and we didn’t camp, we stayed in a crappy dad style hotel, and we didn’t really have a plan. Which is the Rivera formula to having a super fun time. Before I get started on the trip report, I have to preface it by assuring you that you were very missed. There were plenty of sentences starting with, “if Jake was here …’, and “remember when Jacob…”. And even plenty starting with, “when Jake’s back we should…”.

So we got a moderately early start on Thursday. I thought mom was going to make breakfast and sandwiches for the trip, instead we had del taco and subway. It was cold when we started and cold when we got there. It took about a four and a half hour ride to Natural Bridges National Monument, which I will refer to as the park for the rest of this letter. This park is past Blanding in south eastern Utah. We were close to that area when we went to Comb Ridge and Bluff in 2017. We didn’t go to the park on that trip because it was starting to snow and the roads were getting slick. 

Anyway, I had no idea what to expect from the park. There was a small visitor center near the entrance. There wasn’t much to it, but the rangers were super helpful and we bought some postcards to send to you. We checked out the campground, there was only one space taken and I had a tinge of regret for not bringing the trailer. Then we got out of the car, and because of the wind, it felt way colder than the 40 degrees that the car thermometer said. It was the kind of wind that cuts right through you. 

The next stop was the first bridge. The difference between an arch and a natural bridge is that a bridge has water running beneath it. There was only a small stream running through these. This park is kinda like a cross between Arches and Bryce, but smaller than either of those. There’s a loop road that stays on top of the mesa and has several stops and overlooks along the way. The primary features are three natural bridges, whose names escape me. That first day we stopped at the first bridge and took the hike to the bottom. It was steep, really steep. It was fun because there were steps carved into the rocks, steps made out of rocks, metal railings, metal walkways, metal stairs, metal ladders, and even wood pole ladders. It was really fun, but did I mention that it was steep? On the way down your brothers had endless fun breaking the ice that had formed over puddles in the cold of the shade. We when we got to the bottom parts of the stream were frozen. Your brothers were busting through the ice with big rocks. Your mom wanted to get in on the action and, despite being warned, put her foot right through the ice and into the freezing water. Man was I glad we weren’t going back to a windy cold campground. We worked our way back to the top, your brothers were way ahead of us. I tend to be a bit over protective of your mother, so I encourage here to take many rests. That, plus I’m fat and don’t need to run to the top myself. It was getting dark and cold by the time we got to the top, so we headed back to Blanding. 

There are only two open restaurants in Blanding, not including subway and maverick. So we went to a drive in. Everything was good, except the burgers, they were flavorless and mine didn’t even come with cheese, I threw a mini dad fit. I threw another, though less mini fit when we got to the prospector inn, the most humble of all the humble hotels in the humble town of Blanding. Your brothers were giving me the crap I deserved. Then I couldn’t get the key to work in the door. It was a key, not a key card, and that door looked original to the hotel, which looked like it came into being in the 40s or 50s during the uranium boom. Ben was behind me blocking the little bit of light that I had. He kept sighing, and not helping and I got impatient and…well, you know the rest of that sequence. 

We got up in the morning and got ready. Mom’s shoe was still soaked so we went to the Dollar General and did some shopping. It’s a Rivera tradition to have to buy crap on every trip. There was no place to eat breakfast in town so we went to….Maverick. Truth be told, I don’t mind maverick breakfast.

We had gotten some information about some ruins on the way to the park so we stopped to explore those on the way in. The first one was called Tower ruins. It was a dirt road behind a closed cattle gate. We drove about a mile to the trailhead. To my delight the trail was a Jeep road that we were able to drive on. It was a bit rocky with some moderate steep spots, but easy enough in the 4Runner. It was only about 3 miles round trip, but at least I got in a little off road fix. There were two towers on either side of the start of this gorge. One had been rebuilt. Mom got too close to the edge and Joey stepped on the soil crust, both which annoyed me. But it was the start of a beautiful day and, while not much warmer, it was less windy. 

“House on Fire” was the next place we explored. It’s called that because the rock overhang over the house have these striations and coloration that really looked like flames. It was about a one mile hike each way. Pretty easy following a wash. There were a few people on the trail, but not what I would call crowded. It was really pleasant and extremely picturesque.

The third one was called the Mule Canyon ruins. It was the typical multi room house with a kiva, you’ve experienced such ruins many times. Somehow, there always seems to be a German family visiting ruins when we do. I’m starting to wonder if it’s always the same family.

Next was the park. Your brothers had decided that they were going to hike the connector trail between the and second arch, or bridge as it were. So mom I dropped them off at the first bridge. Out plan was to stop at each overlook and pull out on the way. It’s small park, so we knew we had plenty of time. The first stop was an overlooked that was above some ruins. By then it was a super bright early spring day. Not a single cloud in the sky. The trail in was less than a mile, and since it was on top it was relatively flat. We stayed there for a while, since we had the place completely to ourselves, we even sunbathed for a while. In fully mom and dad fashion with only the skin of our faces and hands exposed. It was so extremely peaceful Jacob. I know I’ve said this before, but moments in nature like that, for me, are equal to the most spiritual experiences I’ve had. You can see God’s hand in the nature around your, your thoughts are free from the day-to-day nonsense we usually worry about. It was so quiet, so clean, and so pure. I need that more in my life. Anyway, we were up there I’d guess for about 45 minutes. We were 400 or 500 feet above the canyon floor. We had seen other people hiking down there and we wondered if we’d be able to see your brothers even though we weren’t able to judge distance. Sure enough in that silence I could make out the familiar frequencies of Ben’s low voice. It was faint and unintelligible, yet familiar. Sure enough there around the bend walks Joey in his red hoodie and ben in his black one. We yelled and waived and they saw us. It was really fun.

From there the next stop was the bridge we were going to pick up your brothers. This hike was a little bit shorter than the first bridge, but way steeper. Imagine taking the stairs down a 40 story building, with a few ladders thrown in for variety, then having to climb back up. This bridge was gorgeous. While I couldn’t really judge time or distance, I called it when we got to the bottom by telling your mom that I’d guess Ben and Joe were about to walk under the bridge. Just then we heard some sound like rocks falling that made us a wee bit concerned, we we right under the arch. Just then Benjamin came around the corner. He and Joey had been breaking the ice in the stream under the bridge and Benjamin came around to see if anyone was coming to tell them to stop. So mom and I went around and joined in. The sounds echoing down there were impressive. It was still relatively early by then, so your brothers decided to finish the hike to the last arch. Your mother and I knew that the climb back up was going to take a while, and it did. Have you ever exercised so hard that you had to go poo super bad? To the point that it feels like you have to clench you butt cheeks almost to hold it back? Well, imagine doing that while trying to hold your farts in climbing up 40 stories. Every time we would stop you could tell there was a problem. We just barely made it to the pit toilet at the top before it was a real problem. If there was a four year old nearby it would have been a repeat of that incident on Tom Sawyers island at Disneyland. The good new is that nobody was around, the better news is that happened to mom, not to me. The bad news is I started laughing really hard as I was writing this and she didn’t think it was funny that I told you. 

It was early afternoon by this point so we drove to the final stop. The climb down to this bridge was only about 200 feet or so and it really wasn’t bad. We went down and waited a while for you brothers to come by. We really couldn’t figure out what direction they would come from or how long it would take them. So we decided to wait for them at the top. By the time we got to the overlook it wasn’t even ten minutes before we saw them coming up the trail. In all, your mom and I hiked about 7 miles and your brothers about 13. It was super fun. I look forward to taking you back there.

Everyone was starving by then, so I decided to forego the other places I wanted to explore. You know I always have other places. That night we ate at the other restaurant in town. Mom got chicken, ben got a burger, Joey got a sandwich, and I got Navajo taco in honor of you. 

This morning we got up later than expected, mostly due to daylight savings time, of which I am a giant fan. We ate another maverick breakfast and I gassed up the Toyota. As usual, I wanted to go home the scenic way. Since the only thing we had planned was dinner at grandmas we did it. We took the road from Blanding to Hanksville. It was one of the prettiest drives I’ve ever been on. There were so many side roads I’d like to explore. The was a butte called Jacob’s chair. It looked like a silhouette of a chair on top of a butte, and I don’t know who Jacob is, but it made me homesick for you nonetheless. The road went by lake Powell. In fact, we stopped by one of the famous lake Powell marinas. There was not a drop of water in sight. Literally. The boat ramp led to a dried up mud flat. The was a buoy on a cable just laying there. The cable must have been 10 long, we drove out to roughly the middle of the channel. There was only dry cracked mud and tall grass where there had at one point been 20 or 30 feet of water. It felt a little post apocalyptic because there was all this well kept infrastructure, including working bathrooms, fish cleaning stations, showers, picnic tables, even an open gas station and general store, but not a drop of water for miles.

After that we stopped at capitol reef to use the restroom, but we didn’t take in any of the sites. We went straight to grandmas before we came home. I’m to the point that if uncle Tim isn’t there, I have little interest beyond grandma and grandpa.

It’s nice to be home, but we’re back to the grind of a normal week. I need to start on that freelance project I told you about so I’m going to be stuck in my office nonstop till I get it done.

Well, talk to you tomorrow my boy. Love you and always thinking of you,

Pops