Scrambling down to the wash makes you appreciate the former residents' agility and wonder how young children survived. A cloudy sky and light snowflakes carried on a chilly wind prompt the realization that at 6,000 feet, life around the canyon 900 years ago was a challenge. Returning to the trail downstream, cottonwoods tower overhead, with gambel oak, yucca, prickly pear cactus, Indian paintbrush, willow, alder and box elder growing alongside. Pools of water appear occasionally, sheltering various little creatures. Lizards scurry quickly, including the colorful collared lizard.
Rattlesnakes also live here, so keep an eye and ear open.
Listen for the canyon wren's musical call or a deer's movement. Summer thunderstorms in the mountains to the north and east create dangerous flashfloods that surge through the canyon, both destroying and nourishing life. K achina Bridge, the youngest in the Monument, appears next, suddenly, along the trail. About 245 million years ago this area was beachfront property, complete with sand dunes. As the seas rose, mud and silt buried the dunes.