Hidden Bridge Canyon is one of the most amazing places in Death Valley, and has perhaps the single best natural feature in the park. The hike through Hidden Bridge Canyon starts with a beautiful short set of narrows. After going through these, a very basic dry fall must be climbed and that leads into the chamber-like room which contains Hidden Bridge, which is made out of solid rock. The natural bridge here is the 2nd largest natural bridge in the entire park. To help protect the area, I will not be giving out the location of Hidden Bridge Canyon here on my site or by e-mail. I will tell you that it is hidden away in the vast waterless wilderness expanse of the Cottonwood Mountains between Marble Canyon and Dry Bone Canyon. Before you think I'm trying to hold things back from you, please understand that I was only given knowledge of this canyon on the condition that I did not share the directions I was given with others. Thankfully, I was given permission to share my photographs of this place, which obviously is unknown to even the majority of Death Valley regulars. As of this writing, there are no other photographs of Hidden Bridge Canyon or Hidden Bridge anywhere else on the internet and this location is not covered in any guidebook. If you happen to find either Hidden Bridge Canyon or Big Fall Canyon during your own hikes, please do not reveal or post the location of these canyons on the internet. Help the park service by protecting this area and safeguarding it for future generations of hikers to enjoy.
Here is some background information on the discovery of Hidden Bridge that you might be interested in reading... In the early 1990s a young geologist mapping the Cottonwood Mountains approached a Park Ranger and asked him if he knew about a fairly large natural bridge in the remote wilderness between Marble and Dry Bone Canyons. The ranger had neither heard of nor read anything about such a natural bridge so he obtained detailed information about the bridge's location hoping that one day he could locate the bridge himself. After a couple of years without finding anyone with previous knowledge of the "Hidden Bridge" the ranger finally backpacked into the remote, waterless section of the Cottonwood Mountains searching for the undocumented natural bridge. After a long day of searching and coming up empty handed and discouraged the ranger proceeded traveling down the side canyon he had entered planning to camp closer to the mouth of a larger canyon. Encountering dry falls that made travel difficult the ranger hiked around the dry falls entering the canyon again just at the right spot to finally encounter the well-hidden natural bridge. For over a decade the location of this remote natural bridge was shared with just a few others with no one else visiting it. In more recent years as more hikers have explored the remote sections of the Cottonwoods about a half dozen people are known to have located and visited this "Hidden Bridge" tucked away in an unassuming side canyon. I have added some additional pictures to this trip report which were taken on my second visit to Lower Hidden Bridge Canyon three years later.
Here is some background information on the discovery of Hidden Bridge that you might be interested in reading... In the early 1990s a young geologist mapping the Cottonwood Mountains approached a Park Ranger and asked him if he knew about a fairly large natural bridge in the remote wilderness between Marble and Dry Bone Canyons. The ranger had neither heard of nor read anything about such a natural bridge so he obtained detailed information about the bridge's location hoping that one day he could locate the bridge himself. After a couple of years without finding anyone with previous knowledge of the "Hidden Bridge" the ranger finally backpacked into the remote, waterless section of the Cottonwood Mountains searching for the undocumented natural bridge. After a long day of searching and coming up empty handed and discouraged the ranger proceeded traveling down the side canyon he had entered planning to camp closer to the mouth of a larger canyon. Encountering dry falls that made travel difficult the ranger hiked around the dry falls entering the canyon again just at the right spot to finally encounter the well-hidden natural bridge. For over a decade the location of this remote natural bridge was shared with just a few others with no one else visiting it. In more recent years as more hikers have explored the remote sections of the Cottonwoods about a half dozen people are known to have located and visited this "Hidden Bridge" tucked away in an unassuming side canyon. I have added some additional pictures to this trip report which were taken on my second visit to Lower Hidden Bridge Canyon three years later.
Looking down into the entrance of the narrows of Hidden Bridge Canyon from the cliffs above:
Approaching the canyon from the mouth. The cliff I was standing on to take the last picture is at the far end of this picture:
Entrance to the canyon is guarded by these tall fluted cliffs:
The canyon walls come together abruptly up ahead, and completely change composition at the same time:
And these are the short narrows of Hidden Bridge Canyon:
Steve in the stunning narrows of Hidden Bridge Canyon:
A close-up of the red and black rocks which make up the canyon walls in the narrows and the natural bridge:
Last section of narrows before coming out into a larger area:
This small dry fall needs to be climbed to get into the final part of this hike:
And this is Hidden Bridge, somewhat similar to Little Bridge in appearance, but way bigger and made out of solid rock:
The base of the part of the natural bridge which touches the ground:
Looking straight up at the natural bridge while walking underneath it:
Beyond the natural bridge, there is a massive dry fall which blocks further progress in the canyon:
Enjoy the next nine photos, which give you some different angles of the 2nd largest natural bridge in Death Valley:
The next four photos were taken of Daria and Steve during their time at this special place:
Exiting the Hidden Bridge Canyon narrows and hiking out of this area was a sad moment. We are really going to miss this place:
Once we exited the narrows we had to make the long trip back to our vehicle. The nice thing was that we decided to loop back to it taking a different route, so we would be seeing new scenery. Here we are walking on some nice desert pavement:
After a while we got cliffed out and had to work our way around this area until we could find a safe way down:
Up ahead we were entering a canyon we would need to follow to reach our vehicle. We could see great looking narrows up ahead which thrilled us and worried us at the same time. If this route didn't go through, it was going to be a long ways back around:
Passing through the narrows in the next five pictures. Very pretty scenery:
And it was only fitting that our hike would end by reaching another natural bridge. This one smaller and even less known but still awesome:
Three more pictures of the minor natural bridge close to the end of our hike:
The final eight pictures were all taken during my second visit to Lower Hidden Bridge Canyon in March of 2012:
