TRIP REPORT PHOTOS
The humble beginning of Sunlight Bridge Canyon gives no indication as to what lies ahead:
There are some nice pinnacles and sheer rock walls to take notice of:
The wide canyon suddenly closes in without warning:
As you can see, the canyon soon becomes a slot with only a few feet between walls:
My color reader noted 5 colors at this spot-- deep red, lilac, dark pink, peach, and burnt orange. Such a pretty combination:
Standing under an overhang looking out at a very scenic spot in the canyon:
A panoramic view taken of Sunlight Bridge Canyon from under the overhang (click to enlarge):
Past the overhang area, the canyon walls became spectacular:
Very tight walls to pass through with a lot of turns in the canyon:
This was an incredible overhang curving across the top of the canyon:
The texture and the color of the walls really stood out:
Some of the spots in Sunlight Bridge Canyon, such as this one, reminded me of the famous Antelope Canyon in Arizona:
Up ahead, I thought I spotted either an arch or natural bridge formation:
Upon turning the corner, this was my first view. A brand new previously unknown natural bridge:
The new bridge has the colors of sunlight, which formed the basis for the name. Turning to my color reader once again, the specific colors of the rock include burnt orange, dark pink, salmon, deep red, and charcoal:
Sunlight Bridge was a true canyon span, connecting one side of the canyon to the other:
Notice the tall height of both the top and bottom of the span above the ground:
The height of the bridge would not allow for a picture within a single frame showing both the canyon floor and the top of the bridge:
Standing directly underneath Sunlight Bridge and looking up at the filtered sunlight:
This is the backside of Sunlight Bridge, seen after walking underneath it and looking back:
If you compare the backside of Sunlight Bridge to the backside of Moonlight Bridge, there are similarities:
This angle of Sunlight Bridge showcases some of the spiral curves in the rock. These curves have similarity to Crescent Bridge:
Another picture from the front of the bridge taken directly in the canyon center:
Once again, take note of how the sunlight filters into the canyon and creates such a special ambiance:
This is about as pretty of a setting for a natural bridge that there can possibly be:
A picture of Steve in front of his newly co-discovered natural bridge:
And a picture of Steve at the backside of Sunlight Bridge:
It was hard to take my eyes off of the beautiful array of colors that are a part of Sunlight Bridge:
This is a top to bottom panoramic showing the entirety of Sunlight Bridge as seen from the front. A large canvas print of this picture is hanging in my living room now. Click on the photo to enlarge it for better viewing:
Looking past the bridge at the narrow canyon beyond:
This was taken a very short distance past Sunlight Bridge looking back. It gives another perspective on what the bridge looks like in the midst of the narrows:
The hike through Sunlight Bridge Canyon continued beyond the bridge:
A smooth gravel path with occasional small boulders wound through the narrows:
Another very beautiful section of canyon to behold with a mixture of shallow narrows and towering walls:
Sunlight would occasionally creep into the canyon in spots, creating a glow on the opposite side wall:
The walls completely enclose a hiker at times:
Other times, the canyon would open up just enough to reveal the impressive height of the walls around me:
Rather than being one endless continuous slot, the tightest narrows were broken up into smaller sections. This allowed for a real variety of scenery while hiking through:
There were some darker passages contrasting with the sunlight on the canyon walls in the background:
It was nice to have very few obstacles so far except for some small boulders:
This small boulder rolled into the canyon and got wedged just before hitting the ground:
Sunlight Bridge Canyon is quite narrow for its entire length:
At some spots in the canyon, the sunlight really took over the walls:
Notice the magnificent dry fall off in the distance:
Zooming in on the top of the dry fall. This turned out to be a side canyon dry fall as it was not in the main canyon:
Looking back from a spot close to the dry fall:
The main canyon continued here through this tight spot:
This neat little turn almost needs to be crawled through:
It would be hard for a canyon to get much more beautiful than this:
Up ahead, the canyon appeared to enter a large rock amphitheater:
These were massive walls completely towering over the canyon:
Sunlight Bridge Canyon came to an end at this box amphitheater dry fall:
On my hike back down toward the bridge, I took some more photos of the narrows:
Sunlight Bridge Canyon was impressive from beginning to end:
This is Sunlight Bridge Canyon's tightest slot side canyon. This very tight slot was passable for a good distance:
Another picture taken in the midst of the tight slot side canyon:
This picture shows the junction of the tightest slot side canyon with the main canyon:
Back at Sunlight Bridge for some more pictures and a few minutes of appreciation for the magnitude of the discovery:
Discovering Sunlight Bridge was indeed my biggest lifetime highlight of hiking in Death Valley:
A view showing how the left side of the span fuses with the left side canyon wall:
The next two pictures were taken inside another side canyon of Sunlight Bridge Canyon:
In a future report, I hope to fully document the incredible Sunlight Bridge Canyon side slots in much greater detail:
A short time later, the canyon opened up again in a big way:
The extreme narrows were but a distant memory as I hiked back down the canyon:
But there was still some pretty scenery on display in the lower canyon:
The colors of this rock wall were really fascinating to check out:
Far too soon, my hike through Sunlight Bridge Canyon came to an end:
