Today we ventured to Tonto Natural Bridge State Park. It is a small park with the world's largest natural bridge formed by volcanoes and acid waters thousands of years ago. We took the Gowan trail down to the bottom of the canyon. Evidently David Gowan visited here accidentally when Apache Indians were chasing him. This was in 1880. By 1889 he convinced his cousin to immigrate from Scotland to live in the canyon! Boy, I bet that was the trip of a lifetime! So, after traveling from Flagstaff they used ropes to lower their possessions 500 feet into the canyon! I wonder what their life was like, and if they were happy. Can you be happy in an unbelievably hot desert with no air conditioning?
Anyway, you definitely want to take the Gowan trail, and the Waterfall trail. The Gowan trail goes down the side of the canyon and you can actually climb rocks under the bridge which feels like a huge cave. It is moderately steep, but there are benches,and we didn't have too much trouble. The Waterfall trail walks beside a waterfall and you can feel the water splashing on you and feel the plants growing on the side of the cliff. These rocks turn into the travertine rock that is all around the area and is really slippery. It reminds me of soapstone in feel...a great learning opportunity for kids. We rated this trip a 3 in difficulty because of the steepness, not the length which both trails equal up to about 2 miles. Kevin rates this one as his favorite because of the rock scrambling and water features! It was cool and pretty, not in summer it is brutal. This is for spring and fall. Have fun!
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