Tonto Natural Bridge state park, Arizona – A superb hiking experience.
Tonto Natural Bridge state park
seemed especially calling me. It was a quick program planned by Ravi and Anand
to go for hiking. This place is about 154 kms from Tempe, on state route AZ-87
N, 16kms north of Payson.
Tonto Natural Bridge is
believed to be the largest natural travertine bridge in the world. Tucked away
in a valley of pine trees, this natural bridge was first discovered and
documented in 1877 by a Scotsman David Gowan. However, the American Indians had
long used it and its adjacent caves for homes.
We 9 people from
Honeywell Family drove down in 3 separate Cars and reached the Park about
11.30am. It was very hot wetather with temperature at about 40 °C. Since
Arizona majorly comprises of desert/dry land, naturally the temperature here in
summer is almost like frying pan. Despite scorching heat, we were all in full
spirit and Josh to go out for hiking and explore this natural wonder, ‘nature’s
bridge’. The Bridge is located in an area of scenic beauty, the very subject of
interest of all of us.
When we arrived at the place,
it was all normal and there was no hint of any bridge or any natural wonder
other than a rocky hill in front of us. We then followed the instructions and
walked down the way and suddenly we discovered ourselves standing on top of the
bridge. After looking at the downstream from top of the bridge, we were so
excited to hike down the hill to its bridge’s bottom.
Once we hiked down beneath the
bridge, it was soothingly cool, with a water fall from the tip of bigger
opening from top, it was very beautiful to behold. Constant water fall on rocks
below has created natural formation of green Algae. The algae so green and
fresh, it looks so smooth. We all posed in front of Algae for photo
offsJ. We then walked further beneath the bridge, for me it looked more like a
big cave with openings at both endsJ. It reminded me of the Lord Murugan, Cave
temple in Kaula lumpur, Malaysia. Here it was bit difficult to walk on slippery
rocks.
This bridge stands 183 feet
high and the tunnel measures about 150 feet at its widest point. At many places
there is a constant dripping of water from the roof. Beneath the arch of the
bridge are several caves of considerable extent.
me for shopping or some of them just sneaked in to it to beat the heat??
Anyways it’s not my head
After spending some time
there we again started trekking back to top. It all took some 1 to 2 hours. We
were so hungry, we already had finished several liters of water and Coke cans.
It was time for Lunch. Our group’s hidden Chef Mr.Ravi had brought Pongal,
Visali had brought ‘Alu mutter’ and ‘Rava Laddu’, Jaya/Anand had brought
‘Chana’ dish. It was a surprise culmination of different variety of food.
Without them we would have been starving to the death in the heat.
After lunch Jaya/Anand/Visali
returned to Tempe and balance 6 of us left for Payson lake in 2 cars, hoping to
do boating in evening. By the time we reached the lake it was too late for
boating, nevertheless we took some pics of beautiful lake. I could also click
few close ups of Squirrel enjoying its evening meal nearby lake.
Then we drove back to Tempe, on
the way we were surprised to see unusually long queue of vehicles piled up on
route 87. The road was curvaceous, ensured a clear view of long queue and
the road leading to a big hill ensured a scenic view and a great
opportunity for me to capture the scene in my Canon 60D.
While waiting in queue I
realized and appreciated the patience of people. Even though there was one more
lane and it was one way road, every one waited in one line, there was separate
route for incoming traffic. There was no honking; there was no competition to
go ahead of each other. After waiting for some more time in traffic, we came to
know that, cops are diverting the traffic to route 188 due to wild fire en
route on 87. It meant additional drive of 75 miles for us. We had no choice but
to drive on route 188, but our GPS system kept yelling at us to take U turn and
go back. It was only Naga and I was in car and we started discussing
‘Goddamnparticle’, Earth’s evolution, Grand canyon and what not ?. But we had
some beautiful breathtaking scenes but I could not capture them in Camera from
the moving Car. And we do not stop vehicles here other than designated places
to stop. We saw some beautiful Lakes, Rocky valleys, hills, mountains. We could
only stop at one place to take picture of this beautiful looking red rock
mountain.
Over all it was a superb trip
and it was a ‘must visit’ place. We came back with lots of good memories and
nice long drive. Thanks to all members of the group for making it memorable
hiking trip.
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