A visit to Tonto Natural Bridge State Park, AZ

Mogollon Rim overlooking Tonto National Forest

Monterey Bay Inn, Long Beach, California, 8 o'clock Monday morning

The rumbling of thunder and sound of heavy rain has receded, and dim light is seeping through the small window looking out on a back alley here in an industrial area close to the harbour. We dropped Manfred, Marietta, Siegfried and Marga off at the “Queen Mary” last night and reached our own destination, chosen on the internet like so many others where we have stayed/will stay on this trip, fifteen minutes later. There was hardly any traffic on the way, and our street, too, was quiet. It might not be the most desirable neighbourhood, is far from modern, but it is clean and has character, the man at the front desk was very friendly, and the internet is the fastest I have seen in a long time. We'll pick up the others at eleven, so I hopefully have time to gain a little on my blog writing.

Back to Mesa, then, which seems like another life, a different world already.

On Friday morning we headed north, as planned. The scenic road curved through the familiar desert landscape at first, climbing steadily, with beautiful views of rugged ridges and cactus studded valleys far into the distance. Slowly the vegetation changed, pine started to take over from cactus, the temperature dropped to more moderate levels. 

After about an hour and a half we reached Payson, a neat town with historic centre. We had stayed here before on our way north three years ago and walked in the pine forest surrounding it. After the summer feeling of the desert we had gone back in time: here, everything shouted 'SPRING'! Ornamental trees of some sort – plum, possibly? - displayed their abundance of pink blossoms all through the town centre, other trees and shrubs were just starting to leaf out – I thought once again that I wouldn't want to exchange seasons for everlasting summer. How joyful this spring landscape made me feel!

At the tourist information, housed in one of the historic buildings, we asked for instructions how to get to the Natural Bridge State Park and soon were on our way. After twelve more miles north we had reached our destination.

In Aaron's Arizona tourist guide we had read that this was a 'travertine bridge', but had no idea what exactly this meant. Now, we found out that travertine is a calciferous deposit, that bridges formed by this are quite rare, and this bridge is the largest in North America. Not all trails were open yet; while we didn't see any snow or ice the park administrators must have deemed it still too unsafe. From several viewpoints we could appreciate the impressive structure, over 50m high and still growing from the minerals continuously deposited by a little stream. 

We hiked down the switchbacks and stairs to the bottom and sat on a log by the side of the quiet little stream for a while before walking the few metres to the bottom of the bridge. Here, we could fully appreciate this natural structure arching high above.

Back on top we found the access to the other trail already open, again down big, uneven steps hugging the cliff, until we reached a 'weeping wall', water trickling down the moss-covered rock. Here, too, the minerals had settled in interesting formations.

It's time to pack up and find a grocery store and gas station before we pick up our friends again. From here, we will head north to Morro Bay, hopefully without too much rain so that we can enjoy the proximity of the ocean and maybe walk along the beach before the day is over.