Saturday, October 25, 2008

Morning Glory Bridge in Negro Bill Canyon

The Negro Bill Trail to Morning Glory Bridge is about a 4 mile round trip to one of the largest natural rock spans in the world. The trail head is about 3 miles east of Moab along Highway 128 in southeast Utah. This area is near the south end of Arches National Park.

The well marked trail follows along a year round clear stream and crosses it several times. The crossings usually have stepping stones and the water is shallow in fall. The walls of the canyon are very high and steep and the canyon bottom is lush with riparian vegetation.

The Morning Glory Bridge is at the end of the second side canyon to the right. The main canyon continues for several more miles. There is a little bit of elevation change upwards in the last section of the hike. Though the trail is well marked, keep an eye open for the route toward the bridge.

The interpretive information at the trail head says that the span of Morning Glory Bridge is 243 feet, making it the sixth largest in the United States.

There isn't much of a gap between the span and the back wall, but it is easy to get below and see blue sky in between.
There were a lot of fins and alcoves along the route, but I didn't spot any other arches or any signs of Indian Ruins. This trail has a lot of poison ivy growing in the moist areas near the stream. Negro Bill was William Granstaff, an early settler who arrived in 1877.

I took about 2:00 hours to make the about 4 mile round trip. There were at least 20 other hikers on this trail on a late October day.


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