Natural Bridge

We parked at the head of the Natural Bridge Bike Trail and ate a picnic lunch in the car.

After lunch, we took the charming two-mile roundtrip stroll through the woods. The trail was flat and paved, more or less. I was delighted that Ma and I could enjoy it together.

The end of the trail promised a feature called a "natural bridge". It forms when a creek wears a hole through a rock and then shifts course to run through the opening.

So we get to the end of the trail, but where is the bridge? No sign of a creek either. Then we look up. Do you see it?

How 'bout now?

It's bigger than it looks. And higher. Do you see me (mid-photo, in pink) for comparison?

There are two trails leading to the bridge. One is a switchback trail that loops behind the bridge and crosses the creek (not using the natural bridge, but a different man-made bridge) and comes back down on the opposite side. The other trail goes right up the "gut" to the base of the bridge. That's the one I am climbing in the photo. The creek is clogged with logs and leaves. At the top, it's barely a trickle. Hard to believe a tiny stream could carve such a huge hole!

There were several other tourists wandering around at the base of the bridge. One of them claimed to see a "beaver" in the creek. I don't think it was a beaver. Instead, I think she saw one of these little guys: a yellow-bellied marmot. Add another check mark to our rapidly growing list of mammals.