Last week my little dog Sparky and I headed off from the North Rainbow Bridge Trailhead on the northern flank of Navajo Mountain in the Navajo Nation just north of the Arizona/Utah border. Our intention was to backpack for three or four days to make the 30-mile roundtrip hike to and from Rainbow Bridge National Monument. When it took us over three hours to hike a little less than four miles, I realized that a backpack loaded with four days’ worth of food for Sparky and me may be a bit of a stretch for someone of my age (77 ½ and now closer to 80 than 75) to carry over extremely rugged terrain.
Rather than risk further exhaustion and finding ourselves stranded in an extremely remote part of the country, we made the decision to make camp in a beautiful red rock canyon (Bald Rock Canyon) and then hike back to the trailhead the next day. Although we came up short on the original goal, we were given the gift of being immersed in one of the most majestic places on earth. And we had it all to ourselves in total quiet and beauty. Who could ask for more?
Off and running from the trailhead into our red rock adventure.
We even found water in some of the canyons we crossed.
One of the several canyons we crossed. As soon as you crossed one canyon, you were almost at the lip of the next canyon.
As you can see, the trail was well marked with cairns and never hard to find – but it was very rocky.
Navajo Mountain was never far out of view.
This was one of the shallower canyons along the way.
Again, finding and staying on the trail was never a problem.
Dropping into Bald Rock Canyon. Bald Rock was by far and away to deepest canyon for Sparky and me. And the descent was quite precarious for much of the way.
These steps were cut into the trail to provide better footing for pack animals.
There were incredible views for the entire way down.
And this serious fellow was there to greet us when we reached the bottom of the canyon.
And even better, there was a great camp site at the bottom of the canyon.
And best yet, there was plenty of water to filter for the next leg of the hike back to the trailhead.
And this is the view we woke up to the next morning.
If you want to take this hike and explore the area around Navajo Mountain, you’ll need to contact the Navajo Nation for a Backcountry Hiking Permit – https://navajonationparks.org/navajo-tribal-parks/lake-powell/ – and for good information and maps on the Rainbow Bridge trails – https://rainbowstorm.org/navajoyes/rbguide24b.pdf .
Navajo Mountain itself is a massive solitary mountain near the shores of Lake Powell and is what geologists call a laccolith. A laccolith is where magma has pushed up the overlying sedimentary rock into a huge bulge. (In this case, the bulge is a mountain over 10,000 feet tall.) And with a mountain this tall, the sedimentary rock on the flanks of the mountain has been carved into a series of very rugged and quite beautiful canyons.
As a result the trail to Rainbow Bridge crosses one canyon after another. No sooner than you have cleared one canyon, you’re already descending into another canyon. Despite the difficulty, it would be impossible to imagine a more gorgeous setting.
The road to the trailhead too is extremely difficult. Once you leave the pavement, it’s 4.8 miles of driving up and down over rocks with very difficult turns. As one who has worn out several vehicles driving on rough backcountry roads, the road to the Rainbow Bridge North trailhead is one the roughest. It is not for someone who is not comfortable with rough roads.
This view is waiting for you when you leave the pavement.
You’ll even pass some Navajo sheep herds.
This is one of the nicer sections of the road. There was no way I could stop the vehicle to take a picture when it got really rough.
Even though Sparky and I did not reach our initial objective, I don’t know how we could have had a better adventure. And I am so glad that we had this opportunity to wander through this amazing red rock wonderland.
April 2, 2025 at 8:36 am
Thanks for the great review article. So glad you didn’t push yourself into something that may have been dangerous for you. Cheers!