Park Profile
Address
Rainbow Bridge National Monument c/o Glen Canyon National Recreation Area
PO Box 1507
Page AZ 86040
Telephone
928-608-6200 (This number goes to Glen Canyon National Recreation's Headquarters voicemail.)
Email
Contact Us
Superintendent
Jacob Ohlson (A)
Authorization
President William Howard Taft made a proclamation on May 30, 1910 declaring that "...an extraordinary natural bridge, having an arch which is in form and appearance much like a rainbow, and which is three hundred and nine feet high and two hundred and seventy-eight feet span, is of great scientific interest as an example of eccentric stream erosion... do hereby set aside as the Rainbow Bridge National Monument..."
Name
The members of the first expedition by white men to go see the bridge in 1909, had differing opinions about the name of the bridge. William Douglass of the General Land Office wanted it to be named the Paiute word Barahoine(rainbow) while John Wetherill, local explorer and custodian of Navajo National Monument, preferred the Navajo word Nonnezoshe (rock that goes over). When President Taft established the monument a year later, he used the English version of both together, Rainbow Bridge.
Size
The Rainbow Bridge National Monument is 160 square acres surrounding the bridge.
Rainbow Bridge itself is 275ft (83.82m) wide, 291ft (89.63m) tall, with at the top at width of 33ft (10.1m) and thickness of 42ft (12.8m).
Geology
Rainbow Bridge National Monument is part of the Colorado Plateau geographical and ecological province. Bridge Canyon's stream flowed at a steeper angle, carving around an oxbow curve until is wore straight through, and Rainbow Bridge began to form.
Flora and Fauna
Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and Rainbow Bridge National Monument has catalogued the following species: 875 plants, 305 birds, 57 mammals, 26 fish, 27 reptiles, and 7 amphibians.
Human History Tucked among the rugged, isolated canyons at the base of Navajo Mountain, Rainbow Bridge was known for centuries by the Native Americans who lived in the area. Native Americans living in the region have long held the bridge sacred. Ancestral Puebloan residents were followed much later by Paiute and Navajo groups.
In 2017 The National Park Service designated Rainbow Bridge a Traditional Cultural Property, recognizing the site's historic and ongoing cultural significance to at least six Native American tribes.
While white prospectors and explorers probably saw the bridge before 1909, the official "discovery party" saw and surveyed the area in August of 1909.
