Negro
Bill Canyon
Distance:
4.5 miles (round trip)
Walking
time: 2 3/4 hours
Elevations:
400 ft. gain/loss
•
Negro Bill Canyon Trailhead: 3,980
ft.
•
Morning Glory Natural Bridge: 4,380
ft.
Trail:
Moderately popular, easy to follow
trail
Season:
Spring, summer, fall, winter. There
is occasionally snow in the canyon
during the winter months. For current
conditions call the Grand Resource
Area, Bureau of Land Management,
in Moab at (801) 259-6111.
Vicinity:
Near Moab
Negro
Bill Canyon was named after William
Granstaff, a black prospector and
rancher who grazed his cattle here
during the late 1800s. It is a lovely
canyon, cut into the Navajo Sandstone
by a small, perennial stream that
begins about six miles from the
southern shore of the Colorado River.
The trail winds along the stream
through an oasis of cottonwood and
willow trees, cut off from the desert
above by towering sandstone cliffs.
Like all good hikes, this one also
has a reward at the end. Morning
Glory Natural Bridge spans the head
of one of Negro Bill’s side
canyons at the end of the trail.
According to Bureau of Land Management
statistics, Morning Glory is the
sixth largest natural bridge in
the United States. It’s span
is 243 feet.
In
1979 Negro Bill Canyon gained a
great deal of notoriety over an
action of the so called “Sagebrush
Rebellion”. The Bureau of Land
Management, wanting to study the
canyon as a possible wilderness
area, placed a barrier at its entrance
to keep out recreational vehicles.
This infuriated a group of local
anti-wilderness activists who, with
the help of the Grand County commissioners,
bulldozed down the barrier. The
county commissioners then publicly
declared that the county, not the
federal government, owned the canyon,
and when another barrier was erected
it was again bulldozed down. The
conflict was resolved only after
a lawsuit was filed against Grand
County in the U.S. district court.
Today
the canyon is still a wilderness
study area, and may soon become
the Negro Bill Wilderness Area.
Many residents of Grand County are
still against the idea, but fortunately
tempers are no longer as hot as
they once were. Four-wheel-drive
vehicles are not now using the canyon
and, although there are still some
visible signs of the old jeep roads,
most of the mess has now been cleaned
up. With each passing year the old,
unsightly scars are becoming less
noticeable.
From
the mouth of Negro Bill Canyon the
trail begins by winding its way
up the left side of the stream,
then crosses the water four or five
times. You may have to get your
feet wet at some of the crossings,
especially during the spring runoff.
Wildlife is abundant along the canyon
floor, and you can often see hawks
soaring over the pink sandstone
cliffs searching for prey. After
1.2 miles you will see a second
large canyon intersecting Negro
Bill on the right. Another less-used
trail heads into this canyon, which
you can follow if you feel like
exploring. This is not the canyon
containing Morning Glory Natural
Bridge; however it does contain
some nice campsites and picnic spots.
Continuing
along the main trail for another
0.6 mile will bring you to the next
major side canyon, again intersecting
Negro Bill Canyon from the right.
Here the path splits again, but
this time the main trail turns right,
into the side canyon, and proceeds
southward toward Morning Glory Natural
Bridge. The bridge is at the extreme
end of the canyon, 0.4 mile from
the junction.
Morning
Glory Natural Bridge is unique because
it was carved at the base of a waterfall,
rather than across an open stream
as most natural bridges are. The
space between the bridge and the
cliff over which the water once
plunged is extremely narrow, only
about 15 feet wide, but the span
of the bridge is awesome. What a
spectacle the waterfall behind the
sandstone bridge must have been
when the water was flowing in full
force. Water seldom flows in the
dry river bed now, but there is
a small permanent spring near the
base of the bridge’s eastern
leg.
Content
provided by David
Day of utahtrails.com. Click
here to order his book Utah's
Favorite Hiking Trails.
