Isolation of Rainbow Bridge a draw for visitors

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — No road leads up to or over Rainbow Bridge, and no hands built it.

The reddish sandstone of the Colorado Plateau instead was washed away by the forces of water, sculpting a natural arch that takes hours to reach whether by boat, foot or horse.

The isolation of the bridge in far southern Utah kept it secret from many outside the area. But its proclamation as a national monument 100 years ago Sunday opened it up to visitors to explore its beauty and learn about its rich geological and human history.

"Celebrating that monument status is special in many regards, and I invite visitors to try and just grasp some idea of what the American West will be like in 100 years," said Chuck Smith, an interpretive ranger for the National Park Service and the monument's only full-time employee.

Some people choose to hike 18 miles from the northeast side of Navajo Mountain, traversing Teddy Roosevelt's step, or the 16 miles from the Rainbow Lodge ruins on the southwest side of the mountain. The lodge burnt down in 1951, which then co-owner Barry Goldwater blamed on a cowboy smoking in the back room.

But the overwhelming majority of the 90,000 visitors take a much easier route, by boat from Page, Ariz., which upon arrival requires only a short hike. The 50-mile water trip across Lake Powell, made possible by the creation of Glen Canyon Dam in the 1960s, gives way to views of cathedral-like canyons and geologic formations that are hundreds of millions of years old.

Smith greets visitors after their two-hour boat ride to the bridge. Aside from a Park Service ranger, a trail, a shaded canopy and, Smith jokes, "nice comfy La-Z-Boy rocks," the monument is much the same as it was hundreds of years ago, he said.

"You don't see interpretive signs or text on side," Smith said. "All you see is what should be reflected there, the ambiance — that isolated slice of the Colorado Plateau."

There he tells stories of early explorers who trekked days through rugged terrain to reach a bridge they had only heard about. The hiking trails remain rough to this day. President William Taft later would proclaim it a national monument on May 30, 1910, saying it "is of great scientific interest as an example of eccentric stream erosion."