Bridge Mountain

Bridge Mountain is a 6,803-foot Navajo sandstone summit just east of Zion National Park headquarters, near the south entrance to Zion Canyon. Mormon pioneers first called it Crawford Mountain, after an early settler family, but the name changed in 1934 when someone spotted what looked like a natural bridge near the summit. It turned out to be a freestanding arch rather than a true bridge, so the feature itself was later renamed Crawford Arch to avoid confusing the two.

Seeing it

• Crawford Arch is visible with binoculars from the Zion visitor center, about 1,000 feet above the canyon floor
• Getting close to the arch requires a strenuous backcountry approach with technical climbing skills — not a day-hike option for most visitors

For nearly everyone, Bridge Mountain is a formation to identify from the canyon floor rather than a summit to stand on.