The Hunt for Clara's Arch

clara's Natural arch

Finding this formation on the Navajo reservation isn't easy - just ask the few who've done it WHEN BILL CRAWLEY, JIM LANE, Neil Miller and I trek to Clara Bernheimer Natural Bridge on the Navajo Indian Reservation, we join an elite group of adventurers. As far as anyone knows, fewer than 100 people have ever seen the enormous natural formation in modern times.

We had driven north from the northeastern Arizona community of Kayenta, then east on the dirt road through Cane Valley, and at some point which suddenly seemed to strike Crawley as being just right we turned into a wilderness of sand dunes. Our guide owns and operates Crawley's Monument Valley Tours out of Kayenta. He's been there for 40 years and knows the entire Monument Valley area well and knows where he's going.

The key to getting across the dunes, Crawley says, is to find a path, more or less, between the dunes, where it's "a little bit firmer." Then cinch the seat belt until it cuts off circulation, hold on with both hands and drive forward while trying to avoid getting knocked silly as you flop around like a wet fish.

We do as suggested. Then something goes blam under the hood, and we mush to a quick, smoky stop. Fan belt. No spare. Thank heaven the two-way radio works.

CLARA BERNHEIMER NATURAL BRIDGE WAS "discovered" on June 8, 1927, by a party led by Charles L. Bernheimer, a wealthy German-born businessman from the East Coast. Financing an

archaeological expedition which was sponsored by the American Museum of Natural History, Bernheimer kept extensive records of his desert wanderings, including a trip to Rainbow Bridge. Thoroughly astounded by the sight, he was inspired to search for other natural rock spans.

Bernheimer's expedition was guided by John Wetherill, one of Monument Valley's most famous traders and explorers and the leader of the party that "discovered" Rainbow Bridge. Sometimes Mormon pioneer Zeke Johnson, who also knew the country, accompanied him, as did Old Mike, a Ute Indian guide.

Old Mike insisted he knew of a "monster bridge," much bigger than Rainbow Bridge, and, for $1,000, offered to take Bernheimer there. A trail went right by it, Old Mike said, but you couldn't see it. They finally settled on a fee of $200.

Bernheimer wrote in his journal that Wetherill and Johnson were dubious about Old Mike's claim.

Wetherill led for a while, then Old Mike took over, and they wandered into a labyrinth of rock and sandstone buttes towering hundreds of feet over their heads. They passed a few arches, but none even close to being another Rainbow Bridge. On the evening of June 7, Bernheimer wrote: "I believe any attempt to find new natural bridges will prove a dead failure. I wanted so badly to name a new bridge of marvelous size Clara Natural Bridge." Clara was his wife.Old Mike led them into what appeared to be a shallow box canyon and pointed up. "It was the new bridge we hoped to find - we saw the side view of an arch," Bernheimer wrote. "It had all the characteristics of Rainbow Bridge." But there was a catch. The newly discovered arch was located up high, and a nearly sheer sandstone wall faced them. "It was the real thing," Bernheimer wrote. "But now comes the thorn in connection with the rose; it was inaccessible." The east base of the arch was more than 100 feet above them, the first 60 feet a difficult scramble up a rock pitch. The second, a narrow cleft rising straight up another 60 feet.Wetherill and Old Mike "chimneyed" barefooted up the cleft, backs pressed against one wall, their feet against the other. After two or three attempts, Bernheimer gave up.

His most glorious moment, and he could only stand afar. "I am of course within sight of Clara Natural Bridge, throwing loving glances around, wishing to go to it, but wisdom says no," he lamented.

IN MARCH OF 1989, EVELYN YAZZIE Jensen, Crawley and several others made the climb to the bridge. While there, Jensen decided to look for another route and scrambled down a sharp decline to the west of the arch and through a gap so narrow she had to scoot sideways in parts of it. An hour later, she returned and said that she thought she could see an easier route coming up from the canyon to the south of the arch. But it was late, and they didn't make the attempt.

My group decides to look for Jensen's route. We aren't encouraged as we hike into the big canyon and face a high, cliff-walled dead end. But hiking to the right and traversing several sandstone shelves, we come to a hidden rock slide that, after a hard climb, deposits us in a little valley on top of the mesa. This spot where Evelyn Jensen had stood, is where Crawley, Lane, Miller and I find ourselves.

A couple of short chimney climbs prove not too difficult, but they lead to the one really scary part of the whole day. We must walk across about 30 feet of a colossal-size mound of slick-rock at the top of a narWhen I turn to look, Miller, sliding on his rear, hands flailed out trying to stop himHimself, accelerates rapidly down the sandstone toward the water hole. He yelps and disappears over the edge, some 30 feet above the hole. A loud crash and assorted expletives float up out of the hole, but the deep sand at the bottom prevented any real damage. Miller's second attempt on the slick-rock, however shaky, succeeds.

One last huff-and-puff up another cut and, suddenly, Clara Bernheimer Natural Bridge appears. An awesome sight where one would least expect it: a narrow alcove, almost a half-bowl on one side, and a sheer cliff wall on the other. The arch curves west and east and cannot be seen from any direction except when you walk into the narrow canyon that drops away to the east. And then you see it only if you know where to look. Though impressive, it proves no match for Rainbow Bridge, which measures 270 feet high, with a span of 278 feet and a thickness of 39 feet. Clara's arch reaches about 100 feet high with a span of 150 feet and a width of 25 feet. Still, Miller, who is seeing it for the first time, stands and gawks. The rest of us, veterans of three trips or more, still marvel.

Since Bernheimer's first expedition, visitors have left their names here on a sheet of paper in a tin can. This record shows that the bridge has been visited by about 100 people since 1927. There was a 46-year span during which only five people visited the arch.

In the summer of 1937, Bernheimer sent Wetherill a plaque to put on the arch. According to a 1977 article by Watson Smith published in The Kiva, an archaeology and history journal, Wetherill was "outraged" that he had to put up the plaque. He told Watson that he and Zeke Johnson really had found the arch and only "let" Bernheimer "discover" it to be nice. Watson wrote, "Wetherill said, 'Zeke and I knew it was there all along.'"

The plaque, which remains there to this day, reads: "Clara Bernheimer Natural Bridge Discovered June 8th 1927 by the VI Bernheimer Expedition of the American Museum of Natural History New York Guides John Wetherill - Ezekiel Johnson Leader Charles Bernheimer."

Smith said it seemed unlikely that Johnson and Wetherill, both "voluble, forthright and assertive" men, would have let someone else take credit for such a discovery. But when you get right down to it, Old Mike knew where the arch was before any of them.

In 1936, at age 72, Bernheimer did return and, apparently, managed to get up to the arch, most probably with some help. He died in 1944.

Our little party spends a good part of the afternoon under the arch, climbing around and taking pictures. Lane manages to scramble to its top. We pass a lot of time just staring at the massive, graceful formation that curves high overhead, and try to get our minds around the 235 million years of rain and snow and ceaseless wind that formed it.

We are in a microcosm of lonesomeness. Shout and there's nobody out there to answer. There's no trash here, no cigarette butts, no noise. Even the cell phone doesn't work.

Before leaving, we add our names to the list in the tin can - a record of our success that few others may see. AlHEDITOR'S NOTE: Off-road travel in Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park requires permits. To inquire about visiting Clara's arch, call Bill Crawley, (928) 697-3463 or (928) 6973734.

Bill Leverton of Phoenix reports on Arizona people and places for magazines and television.