There are several ways to visit this wonderful natural geological feature; there are arduous overland trails which require permits and guides from the Navajo Nation; but most commonly, the monument is reached by boat - your private craft, a rental craft or by signing on with any of the many tour operators.

Carved from Navajo Sandstone, the bridge spans 275 feet and has a height of 290 feet. It was first seen by white men on Aug. 14, 1909. The search party was led by Byron Cummings and John Wetherill, a brother of the Richard Wetherill, the discoverer of the magnificent ruins of Cliff Palace in Mesa Verde.

Summary

Nearly all of Lake Powell is in Utah, as is Rainbow Bridge. Therefore, all but the Page map are Topo Maps for Utah.

Details

I have included directions to two of the lake's marinas. Rainbow Bridge is approximately 39 miles by water from the Wahweap Marina and about 48 miles by water from the Hall's Crossing Marina. It is most common to visit the monument from Wahweap. But, it appears there are far more interesting geographic and archaeological features to be seen between Hall's Crossing and Rainbow bridge Monument, in particular the Escalante River canyon contains numerous ruins, petroglyphs, and major arches.

Speaking of arches, I was somewhat disappointed with some of the arches listed on the excellent map that we obtained at the marina. The terms "arch" or "bridge" most commonly conjure up an image of a free standing span of rock which is open so that one might walk through or under. Those geological features are normally produced by wind or water erosion. In addition, the physical forces exerted by the freezing and thawing of water within cracks of the rocks over time will cause massive chunks of rock to spall or "fall out ", a process called "exfoliation", leaving a hollowed out "arch" in the face of the cliff. Evidently many of these "fall out" arches have been given names and are located on the map, according to the operator of the marina store at Hanging Rope Marina.

As this was our initial passage on Lake Powell, we were very grateful that we had plotted the route from Wahweap marina to Rainbow Bridge and uploaded it into my GPS. We found the channel markers along the route were frequently hard to follow from our perspective in the small fishing boat. Without the GPS, there were a multitude of wrong turn opportunities in the myriad of side canyons - in fact the mouth of Bridge Canyon itself would have been easy to have missed.

Despite the cold, windy, cloudy day; the disappointing photograph and the fallout Arches, this trip can only be considered a resounding success. We were not at work and we got to visit one of the world's seven natural wonders - Rainbow Bridge was worth the trip! You must see it to appreciate it.