Hartman Natural Bridge

Hartman Natural Bridge is a 130-foot rock span over Lava Creek deep in the eastern inner canyon, making it the second-longest natural bridge in Grand Canyon National Park. It formed in the Bright Angel Shale near the top of the Redwall Limestone layer, arcing over a drainage that most visitors will never lay eyes on.

Getting there

This is not a rim overlook or a marked trail. Reaching the bridge means boating the Colorado River roughly four miles downstream from the Little Colorado River confluence to the mouth of Lava Canyon, then working up Lava Creek on foot for several hours before a final scramble up a talus slope to a shelf directly beneath the span. There's no maintained path and no signage.

• Accessible only by river trip plus a long, strenuous off-trail hike up Lava Canyon
• Recommended for experienced canyoneers comfortable with route-finding on loose talus
• No facilities, water sources, or cell service anywhere along the approach

If you're not on a river trip with the skills and time for this side hike, you'll only ever see Hartman Natural Bridge in photographs.