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:
This is the beginning of the slot 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 the enclosed area containing the natural bridge:
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:
Here is the base 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:
Notice that the lighting was not ideal for photos during the time of day we were in here:
Take a closer look at the bulging rock which makes up the natural bridge:
Hidden Bridge has such a pretty curve to it:
This odd angle shows you how thick and strong the natural bridge is:
Notice that the rock on the outside is not smooth and polished like the inner rock:
That's a very large and strong base at the bottom of the bridge:
Another unique angle looking straight up the natural bridge:
But Hidden Bridge looks the best if you back away from it and get a full picture:
My favorite pictures showcase the entirety of Hidden Bridge with the major dry fall behind it in the background:
A picture of Daria underneath Hidden Bridge with the major dry fall behind her:
Steve and Daria pictured underneath Hidden Bridge:
I found this small rock shelf to sit down on behind the bridge:
Notice how sitting on the rock shelf makes for an amazing picture from the front side:
Exiting the Lower 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. Some groups have had trouble figuring out this area, but we didn't:
Up ahead we were entering a side 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 way back around:
Passing through some shallow narrows in the side canyon:
Climbing down some rock steps which were part of a minor dry fall:
Up ahead, it looked like there were more narrows. If you check the hillsides above, you will see that there looked to be no safe bypass routes:
The narrows turned out to be very windy but with no major obstacles:
It actually proved to be very enjoyable and interesting to check out this side canyon and alternate route back to the vehicle:
And it was only fitting that our hike would end by finding another natural bridge. This one would either be classified as a minor natural bridge or a false natural bridge:
The minor natural bridge seemed more like a giant boulder that possibly collapsed into the wash:
But as you can see, it had a fair amount of height and could be walked through:
This was the view from the opposite side as we continued our hike:
In March of 2012, I returned to Lower Hidden Bridge Canyon to get some more photographs of the narrows:
Notice that the lighting was better on this trip and I was able to really capture the spectacular walls:
Every time that I see the polished rock with such nice patterns and colors, this area amazes me:
A close-up of some of the patterns and colors within the slot narrows:
A nice glow to the canyon walls up ahead:
Alternate portrait angle taken from the same location to highlight the height of the walls:
The final two pictures show Hidden Bridge as seen in 2012. I sure hope to come back someday:
