A Guide to Natural Bridges National Monument, Utah

by Anonymous

4 0.3 (1.9)

This is another different point of view. You’ve come only a little way, you look at the same things (plus a few new ones), but it’s different.

Lichens

Lichens: Patches of color, bright or somber, like a thin crust on the rock. Blue, black, orange, red, brown, green, yellow and other colors. These represent another odd plant community. Lichens are a lot tougher than the cryptogamic crust, but it seems a shame to walk on them. They are algae and fungi that live intertwined lives. Neither can live alone; each is utterly dependent upon the other. Such things are called “symbiotic” or “symbiotes.” Incidentally, you’re a symbiote, too, in a way.

Crossbedding

“Crossbedding” is all over the place, and you can see it all through the Monument in cliffs, exposed rock faces of many kinds, boulders, etc. It is the numerous groups of thin layers of rock intersecting at odd angles. They are the result of wind-blown sands drifting across the landscape—a very different landscape than that you see. The Cedar Mesa Sandstone is largely made up of sands that drifted here in great dunes. The loose grains were later covered by more sediments, cemented together by other minerals, and are now being uncovered and worn away by erosion. With each step, you free grains of sand that have been locked in place for about 180 million years. Those grains will now move on, eventually to come to rest and again become frozen in time. Rub the sandstone with your hand and feel the sand grains break loose.

There is an Indian ruin across the canyon. Can you see it?

The douglasfir community grows on the more shaded side of the canyon, for it cannot tolerate the hotter and drier environments on the sunny side or on the mesa top. In fact, the tops of most douglasfir growing near the cliff rise only to the level of the cliff top. Many have dead tops even with the cliffs edge. Hot dry winds from the mesa apparently kill the tops of these mountain forest trees, but we’re not really sure that’s the reason for the dead tops. Can you think of a better one?