Natural Bridges National Monument is often overlooked. For one, it's not close to a thriving tourist town and center of desert activity, like Moab. Also, it isn't a national park, like Arches and Canyonlands; it's a national monument, which makes it much less visited and therefore less known overall, though the distinction between the two is almost entirely on paper.
But Natural Bridges holds a bit of everything that makes the Utah Desert special. Ancient ruins can easily be found tucked into thin sandstone canyons, where they've sat unattended for the last eight hundred years. And three massive natural rock bridges span those dry canyons within a few miles of each other. A continuous loop of hiking trail connects the bridges and the ruins. Occasionally ladders, made from wood and rope, similar to the ones used by the Anasazi, help hikers climb up or down the smooth canyon walls.
