World Portal

MichaelStephenWills

Sipapu is one of the largest natural bridges known.

Part of the Natural Bridges National Monument in Utah, a place inaccessible until the “uranium boom” of the 1950’s and the road was only paved in 1976.

We visited on a July day of thunderstorms, which you see building here.  If you look closely at the base of the bridge, you can see the railings my wife and I used to climbed the steep sides of White Canyon.

We hiked a few miles along an unmaintained trail.  On the way we passed ancient cliff dwellings. The area is a maze of canyons throughout which these ruins are scattered.

Sipapu is a Hopi word for the small hole or indentation in the floor of kivas used by the Ancient Pueblo Peoples and modern-day Puebloans. It symbolizes the portal through which their ancient ancestors first emerged to enter the present world.

A natural bridge is formed through erosion by water flowing in the stream bed of the canyon.

Sipapu Bridge is 268 feet across and, standing in the stream bed, it is 220 feet above your head. That is white Permian sandstone, after which White Canyon is named.

Copyright 2023 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved
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