Yesterday we decided to go and see the Tonto Natural Bridge State Park. The drive up was so nice — lots of altitude and winding roads. We started out in Camp Verde at about 3000 feet and at one point in the drive were at 8000 feet. As we started the drive we could see the mountain in the distance that we would drive up and over.
And in the highest elevation there was a LOT of snow. Many people were pulling over to play in the snow and build snowmen.
According to the website this was what it was all about: Tonto Natural Bridge is a natural arch that is believed to be the largest natural travertine bridge in the world. Tonto Natural Bridge stands over a 400-foot-long tunnel that measures 150 feet at its widest point and reaches a height of 183 feet. It was first documented by a Scotsman in 1877 while hiding from Apache tribe members. He eventually convinced his family to move to the area and family members lived there until 1948. (Source: Wikipedia)
The entrance to the park was a couple of miles, with the last mile being a continuing downward slope into the canyon where the park land was located. Unfortunately, due to icy conditions and some political discussions going on, none of the hiking paths were open that you can take down to go under the bridge, but the viewpoints were nice to get a sense of the beauty of this natural arch.
This is the viewpoint where you could see the tunnel part of the arch.
The path then led us across the top of the bridge to the other side where there a number of natural waterfalls and a view of the bridge that is part of the hiking path that was closed. The water falling down created rainbows, but I could not really capture that with the camera.
This is definitely at state park that I would recommend to visit. I would like to go back once the trails are open so we could go down in to the arch area. Plus, the drive there was an added bonus.
Hope you are all enjoying your day!
TIFN
Dandy Ventures 