Rainbow Bridge National Monument

Rainbow Bridge arches above a side canyon of Lake Powell, and to the Diné it is Tsé Naní'áhí, sacred long before surveyors mapped it in 1909. Five tribes hold it holy, the Navajo, Hopi, San Juan Southern Paiute, Kaibab Paiute, and Ute, tied to deities of rain and cloud. Filling Lake Powell drowned the overland pilgrimage route and carried tour boats to its foot; a 1974 Navajo lawsuit to protect it failed. The Park Service now asks visitors not to walk beneath the span.

What the plaque says

Although the official discovery of Rainbow Bridge did not occur until 1909, there is convincing evidence that prospectors stumbled upon the bridge in the late 1880s. (Certainly JW Powell did not know about the bridge as he floated down the Colorado River in 1869.) Rainbow Bridge is located at the foot of Navajo Mountain (on Page's eastern horizon). It can be reached by boat from Lake Powell or by rough roads and trails that begin on the Navajo Indian Reservation.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Antelope Canyon — 6.2 mi
  Tsé bighánílíní — where the water runs through the rock

More markers nearby

• Colorado River Storage Project — steps away
• Major John Wesley Powell — steps away
• Native Americans — steps away
• Navajo Generating Station — steps away