A twofer: we visited Bears Ears and Natural Bridges National Monuments.

Bears Ears National Monument is administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). It is a large area of 1.36 million acres of forests and such.

It is named for the distinctive mountains:

We visited a ranger station:

But the main focus of this trip was to visit the Natural Bridges National Monument, administered by the National Park Service (NPS). it is entirely surrounded by Bears Ears NM:

Its visitor center:

This monument features three natural bridges, basically holes in rocks much like arches. What’s the difference? Basically a natural bridge spans an erosion valley, and an arch doesn’t. Or put another way, a natural bridge is caused by running water, and an arch by seeping moisture.

The first bridge viewpoint:

An info sign:

The bridge is a little difficult to spot:

A closer view:

We then stopped for a picnic lunch at a nice shelter:

On to the second bridge:

And the last one: