Natural Bridge Campground

We arrived at Natural Bridge Campground relatively early, around two p.m. The spot we chose is sunny, and right by the river. It’s a larger clearing, with a picnic table, fire ring, and not much else. The river itself is a good sized, fast flowing river. The water is a cloudy green blue. In some spots on both sides, there are patcehs of basalt, a black, porous volcanic rock. There are also fist sized chunks of pumice, and yes, they float.

We, (My dad, mom, and I) took a walk down to the natural bridge this morning, and the trail was actually rather steep on the other side of the water. For the most part it’s in the woods, but you can see the river from afar the whole time. In one spot that we walked past, there were two waterfalls, about five to eight feet tall. They were nearly on top of each other, and surrounded on both sides by more smooth basalt. The bridge itself was underwater, from seasonal flooding, but it was still really cool to see the water rushing into a hole in the riverbank, and than shoot back out into the river about two hundred feet down river. We read that it takes about 35 seconds to get from one end to the other, if you move at the same speed as the water. In theory, most people can hold their breath for that long, but the water might simply push the air out of your lungs, and what if you got stuck? You can also go for about three minutes without oxygen before your heart stops, but still, you might get stuck. I personally do not plan to go through any two hundred foot long lava tubes filled with water. I would not recommend it to anyone else either.

A cool spot right by the natural bridge.