Mexican Hat Bridge, Utah

The Mexican Hat Bridge spans the San Juan River, on SR-163 at milepost 20.94 in San Juan County, 23.4 miles north from the Arizona State Line. This bridge is as much a metaphor as it is a physical structure, for it links two distinct cultures historically dependent on the mighty river that separates them. On the north side lies pioneer Utah, and the very small settlement of Mexican Hat (pop. 150), named after a unique redrock pinnacle shaped like a sombrero. On the south side, across the river from where this panorama was taken, you enter the Navajo Nation and the magnificent Monument Valley. The bridgeitself was built in 1953 for the tidy sum of 176,040 dollars and 12 cents. (Such was the accounting in those days.) The day this panorama was taken, thunderstorms wracked the desert, remnants of which can still be seen in the sky, the river swollen with runoff. Kelp, the Dalmatian, is less concerned about the bridge than he is with a threatening pack of dogs that, thankfully, are on the other side of the river.

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USA-Canada / USA-Utah

Lat: 37° 9' 3" N
Long: 110° 53' 1" W

→ maps.google.com [EXT]

Precision is: Unknown / Undeclared.

Canon 10D, 15mm-30mm Sigma lens, shot at 15mm, Kaidan Spherical Head, Realviz Stitcher, Photoshop CS