Uncommon beauty: Natural Bridge Falls on full display as runoff roars
Darryl and Sally Lownsbery like to explore the little dots on the map, the ones a bit off the beaten path, the good stuff. Vacationing in Montana from Conestoga, Pa., those dots led the Lownsberys from Yellowstone National Park through 15-foot-deep snow tunnels atop Beartooth Pass to Natural Bridge Falls on the Boulder River.
With the Boulder in the throes of runoff, the Lownsberys arrived to a grand vision of the falls. Rainbows swirled in the lifting mist as the skeletal trunks of massive Douglas firs and lodgepole pines rocked in the turbid pool below, the roar of whitewater drowning out all other sound through the limestone canyon.
“We had heard about all the flooding on the news … but we never anticipated the water levels would be this high,” Darryl said on Tuesday afternoon. “Every river we have seen is overflowing. It is just tremendous.”
Natural Bridge Falls is located on the main branch of the Boulder River just south of McLeod in Gallatin National Forest. The falls gets its name for the natural bridge that once spanned the river, a mass of limestone exposed by the erosive forces that have shaped the area for millennia.
The natural bridge collapsed in 1988, but the area still possesses a flair for the dramatic.
For most of the year, when the Boulder River maintains flows below 1,000 cubic feet per second, the river does not pour over the brink of the falls. Instead, the water passes through solution channels in the limestone above the falls before reemerging below. It was this same process that formed the first natural bridge, and the one that will form other bridges in the future.
During the early summer, when runoff waters race down from the Absaroka Mountains, the solution channels fill with water and the flows rise over the top of the falls.
The U.S. Geological Survey keeps real-time water data for the Boulder River near Big Timber (http://waterdata.usgs.gov/mt/nwis/current?type=flow). When flows reach 5,000cfs at the Big Timber gauge, chances are good that Natural Bridge Falls is flowing.
“Currently, the water has been quite high,” said Lauren Oswald, a deputy district ranger for Gallatin National Forest. “Last week we had our first major melt of the season.”
The Gallatin National Forest maintains several picnic areas, trails (including a handicap-accessible route) and viewing platforms at Natural Bridge Falls. Six established viewing areas on the north side of the river, and two on the south, offer dramatic views of the falls. A platform just above the brink delights visitors with a vertical vista of the 100-plus foot plunge and plumes of mist below.
Upstream of the falls, a wooden bridge spans the Boulder River. During low water, visitors can watch the river disappear into the solution channels in the limestone. During high water, they can marvel at the voluminous flows raging beneath their feet.
Across the bridge, the East Rim Trail leads visitors to the mouth of a limestone canyon. Here, the overhanging cliffs and surging whitewater are awe inspiring. A series of bolts placed by climbers offers additional recreational opportunities among the limestone crags.
The return trek brings the spectacle of Natural Bridge Falls front and center. Direct views across the intimate limestone amphitheater reveal the power and beauty of the falls. During sunny days numerous rainbows float in the mist below.
Like those rainbows, the beauty of Natural Bridge Falls is fleeting. Once runoff subsides the falls will vanish beneath the limestone, hidden again until high water returns.
“We would have bypassed the falls easily, but there was a little symbol on the map,” Sally said. “We feel extremely lucky we found it. It is more than we could have imagined.”
Related posts:
- Whitewater Rush: Kayakers race to catch runoff as Gallatin River surges
- High water safety: Boaters reminded to stay smart during this year’s runoff
- Exploring the waterfalls of Silver Gate
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