Category: desert

After doing some research, I opted not to do it — yet. Organizing to hike Paria Canyon was easier.

The best of several options, I thought, was to hike in to Rainbow Bridge, then catch a tourist boat back to Wahweap marina near Page, Arizona. (about US$55)

If you can find transport to the trailhead early in the morning this one-day, light-weight hike is feasible. The hike in is via either of 2 foot trails: from Navajo Mountain Trading Post, 14mi (26km), or from abandoned Rainbow Lodge, 13mi (24km). Details on GORP.

A longer alternative is the Rainbow Bridge Trail: a 28mi circuit from and back to Rainbow Bridge. You would boat both ways and spend some quality time close to the spiritual monument.

Any hiking longer than the tourist 90min tour requires you get a Navajo Nation backcountry permit.

While at 275ft (84m) long and 290ft (88m) high it’s neither the highest nor the longest arch / bridge in the world, Rainbow is certainly the most famous.

I’d love to see it … someday.

Rainbow Bridge National Monument – Wikipedia

… there are only ten natural arches in the world that have spans longer than 200 feet. All but one of these are in the Colorado Plateau area of the United States.

Although there may be other natural arches this long somewhere else in the world, no others have so far been confirmed. The most likely candidate is Tushuk Tash (Shipton’s Arch) in China, measured at 1200 feet high, making it the tallest natural arch in the world. …

The most recent addition to this list, Aloba Arch in the country of Chad, was only confirmed in 2004.

… visiting all nine … located in the Colorado Plateau requires a considerable amount of effort. Looking for natural arches always takes you into very beautiful places, some of which you might not have thought to visit otherwise. An arch at the end of a journey through natural splendor could be seen as the frosting on a very good cake!

Here’s The Big 10 as ranked by NaturalArches.org:

+ Kolob Arch – Zion National Park, Utah
+ Landscape Arch – Arches National Park, Utah
+ Rainbow Bridge – Rainbow Bridge National Monument, Utah
+ Sipapu Natural Bridge – Natural Bridges National Monument, Utah
+ Aloba Arch – Ennedi Range, Chad
+ Wrather Arch – Paria Canyon, Arizona
+ Morning Glory Natural Bridge – Moab, Utah
+ Stevens Arch – Escalante River, Utah
+ Kachina Natural Bridge – Natural Bridges National Monument, Utah
+ Snake Bridge – Sanostee, New Mexico

But which of these have good hikes?

I’ve only walked to Wrather Arch, an excellent destination. For details on how to get there check our Paria Canyon information page.

And I’ve researched Rainbow Bridge, Utah. Access is only by boat or foot. There are several good hiking itineraries.

Here’s a view of Rainbow you’ve never seen before.

original – flickr.

There’s more like this on James Neeley’s flickr photo stream.

I’ve been following the excellent and fascinating blog posted by Brendan Fletcher of a walk along the Great Wall of China.

The most recent is his best post to date.

Just east of the town of Shikong, the Yellow River takes a turn to the north and the Great Wall turns with it. For 90 kilometres the wall runs south to north along the foothills of the Helan Shan, an isolated mountain range with peaks as high as 3500 metres.

Historical details on the Helan Shan wall are sketchy (in English, at least). About all we have been able to find out is that Sanguankou, a series of fortifications about 40 kilometres west of Yinchuan, the capital of Ningxia, was built in 1540. Presumably the Helan Shan wall was constructed around the same time.

You might see the odd photo or two of the Helan Shan wall in the better books on the Great Wall, but it’s not especially well known to tourists. Which is a shame, because it is probably the most impressive section of wall in the west, and it’s located reasonably close to a nice tourist town in Yinchuan.

The Helan Shan Wall, Part 1 at Walking the Wall

When I hiked in and around Page, Arizona for a week it seemed every local hiker pointed me towards <a href=”Moab, Utah. I’ve never been.

Moab is 233mi (374km) southeast of Salt Lake City. It’s a tiny town that draws mobs of tourists, mostly visitors of the Arches and Canyonlands National Parks.

The town is also famed for mountain bikers who come for Slickrock Trail.

I hope to get there for hiking sometime in 2007.

Delicate Arch

One day soon you may be able to hike to Shipton’s Arch, the world’s highest. Almost as high as the Empire State Building at 366m (1200ft).

This wonder of the world was rediscovered in 2000 when National Geographic published Journey to Shipton’s Lost Arch.

It’s also known as also known as Pierced Rock (Uyghur) and Hole in Heaven (Chinese).

Seemed I could jump down on top of the tourist boat on the river below.

En route to Paria Canyon, I took the short walk from highway US89 to dangle my feet off the cliffs of Horseshoe Bend, surely one of the most incredible vistas in the world.

This oxbow in the Colorado River is just downstream from the Glen Canyon Dam, a few miles from the tourist centre of Page, Arizona.

larger version – TrekEarth