Keyhole Natural Bridge! What a site to see! Can you find it? Have you been there?

Natural Bridges, Windows, and Tunnels of the Grand Canyon from Dr.Harvey Butchart!

Dr. Harvey Butchart                   September 1967
 

Holes through Redwall rim of South Canyon
About ¼ mile from the river. South canyon is at Mile 31.7 in Marble Canyon. These holes are about 6 or 8 feet in diameter and open on the wall about 20 feet below the rim. I found them independently in 1962.

Bridge of Sighs
Mile 35.7 right bank in the Redwall. Found by the Kolbs in 1911. It is high above the river and spans a ravine.

Kolb Bridge
Seen from the air by Goldwater about 1952 and visited by him with his helicopter pilot in 1954. Shown on the map. About 147’ in span and about the same in height.

Brady Hole
A vertical hole about 20’ in diameter in the roof of a Redwall aclove on the east side of Brady Butte. Probably seen by G. Beck and then found independently by me in 1973.

Hartman Bridge
Seen from the air by James Hartman. It is shown on the map in the north arm of Lava Canyon. I found it independently in 1958, and I took the first photos. It is about 130’ wide and a little less in height.

Apollo Tunnel
A big cave, over 50’ in diameter, on the north side of Apollo Temple, has a small hole up through the roof. I first saw it in 1965.

Cardenas Bridge
It is on the east side of a Redwall promontory projecting north from below Cardenas Butte. It is about 30’ by 15’. It was known to the miners and I saw it independently in 1963.

Angel’s Window
Well known near Cape Royal

Window through the rim of the Redwall
North of Lyell Butte. Not impressive, about 20’ by 10’. I observed it from the Tonto Trail.

Window west of the South Kaibab Trail
Where it goes through the Bright Angel shale. This small one, about 10’ by 10’, is shown on the map.

Window through the top of the north buttress of Cheops Pyramid
It is about 15’ by 15’ and is through a broken type of rock.

Window through the Redwall rim southeast of the Tower of Set
I saw it and photographed it from the Tonto to the south. I would estimate that it is about 25’ by 15’.

Window through the Redwall rim
On the west side of the east arm of Dragon Creek. It is a sloping hole about 8’ in diameter.

Alsap Window
This is through the fin projecting south from Alsap Butte. One can see through it from the east rim scenic drive at Vista Encantadora. From the middle of this oblique tunnel, a vertical shaft goes up through the roof. I visited it in 1972.

Window through the Redwall rim
On the east side of upper Bright Angel Creek. This is farther north than the spring. I didn’t see it when I was there, but Billingsley and others have told me about it.

Tunnel through the Redwall rim
At the head of the Redwall Gorge in Mauv Canyon or White Creek. It can be seen from the North Bass Trail. A good sized cave has a fairly small hole through the roof. It was known to W. W. Bass and his tourists before 1900. Almost everyone who goes down the North Bass Trail has the pleasure of an independent discovery.

Royal Arch above Elves Chasm
It is a shapely arch about 65’ by 65’ and is like a tunnel 40’ long through a thick fin. It has the distinction of being the only natural bridge in Grand Canyon with a permanent flow of water through it. It must have been found by the mappers who developed the old Matthes-Evans map since they named the creek Royal Arch Creek, but it was unknown when I was trying to determine the reason for this name in 1959. Three bridges, this size or larger, had been seen from the air, but Royal Arch had escaped notice.

Window through the Redwall rim
On the east side of Royal Arch Creek just south of Royal Arch. I found this on the same day as Royal Arch.

Tunnel at Mystic Spring
W. W. Bass had a camp under an overhang at this spring and a few yards north of his camp a tunnel about 4’ in diameter goes through to a vertical shaft about 15’ deep. This spring was reputed to have gone dry, but it flows feebly during the wet seasons. It is a mile north of its erroneous location on the Matthes-Evans map. It is just south of where the west rim of Spencer Terrace bends to the northwest.

Keyhole Bridge
This was found by P.T. Reilly and is shown on the map in the west arm of 140 Mile Canyon. It is narrower but taller than Royal Arch and can be called the third largest natural bridge in Grand Canyon.

Holes through the Redwall rim
On the west side of Beaver Canyon, the tributary of Havasu Canyon. I saw then when I walked this rim above the mouth of Havasu Creek in 1961.

Hole through Redwall rim
On the west side of Havasu Canyon just north of Mooney Falls. This has been pictured in Arizona Highways.

Several Natural Bridges and windows in Tuckup Canyon
For information you might write George Billingsley, c/o Museum of Northern Arizona, Flagstaff, Arizona. I haven’t seen these.

Alamo Window
Possibly 60’ in diameter through a Redwall fin south of the narrows at the lower end of Fern Glen Canyon. This was seen by Norman Nevilles and was rediscovered by a flyer from Las Vegas.

Natural Arch shown on the 7.5 minute Granite Park Quad map
It is through the Redwall rim on the west side of the river about Mile 217. It is barely visible from where we were walking just above the river.

Not included in this list are some crawlways through piles of chockstones. There are also some very small holes through fins that make good places to tie a climbing rope. I am also leaving out holes formed by rocks falling over a passage. However, I should include the most remarkable of these:

Fallen Tower Bridge
This is near the top of the Eminence Break  Route down to President Harding Rapid from the base of Tatahatso Point. A small pinnacle fell from where it was forming a balanced rock and caught like a keystone across a 30’ wide ravine. This is on the left rim of Marble Canyon about 100’ below the rim of the Kaibab Formation where Eminence Break reaches the rim.

Bridge discovered from the air
By a ranger named Robertson on the west rim of the Walhalla Plateau almost directly above Cheyava Falls.

Jicarilla Bridge
This is shown on the map just west of Jicarilla Point. It is on the rim of the Kaibab Formation. I first reported it to the rangers in 1961.

Angular hole
Broken through the fin at the north end of the Grand Scenic Divide. It is about 8’ by 10’, and it is about 80’ below the top of this fin. I got to it by a rough scramble from the rim of the Redwall at the Bass Trail.

Holes through the Redwall rim
On the right side of the Havasu Creek tributary south of Mt. Sinyala.

Several bridges or windows
Through the Kaibab rim on the east side of the of the upper part of Havasu Canyon. They are near the Kirby Trail which comes down from the east side of the main arm about a mile south of the edge of the Supai Quad map. The trail isn’t shown on any map I have. I got a precise location for the trail head from some people who are running a ranch for the Babbitts. They live at a place called the Wells near the end of the road that goes west from Anita.

Hole through the Coconino above Matkat descent

Window above the Shivwits route

Lower National Canyon, side canyon on the east.

South of Meriwitica Spring

Hole through the skyline
Seen south across the lower end of Grand Canyon from the foothills south of Pierce Canyon.

Curving tunnel
Through a fin about 100 yards upstream from the top of Emory falls.

Hole through the Redwall rim
On the east side of Emory Falls canyon about halfway from the fall to the dead end of the canyon in the Redwall.

South above Coconino damsite

Couple in Diamond Creek.