Ayres Natural Bridge
Ayres Natural Bridge Rd
Douglas, WY
One of the few natural rock bridges in the country with a creek still running beneath it, tucked in a green canyon off the Oregon Trail.
Ayres Natural Bridge is one of only a handful of natural rock bridges in the country that still has water running beneath it. A bend in LaPrele Creek spent ages cutting through a wall of Casper Formation sandstone until it carved a clean arch, about 30 feet high and 50 feet wide, and then kept flowing straight under its own bridge.
The setting is what makes it linger in memory. The arch stands in a narrow, red-walled canyon full of cottonwoods and birdsong, a green pocket of shade and cold water in the middle of dry high-plains country. It has drawn travelers for well over a century, and it still feels like a small secret.
What Guests Love
- A genuine natural rock arch with LaPrele Creek still flowing right under it
- A cool, green, cottonwood-shaded canyon that feels like an oasis in the high plains
- Wading and splashing in the creek on a hot summer afternoon
- A free, quiet county park with picnic tables, grass, and red canyon walls
Worth Knowing
- The park is open seasonally in the warmer months and closes for winter, so check before a shoulder-season visit
- It is a day-use park with limited facilities, so bring what you need and pack out your trash
- The access road drops into a narrow canyon, so large rigs should scout the turnaround first
- Spring runoff makes the creek loud and full, while late summer runs low and easy for wading
Details
Douglas, WY
Learn about Ayres Natural Bridge
A landmark on the Oregon Trail
The bridge sits about a mile off the Oregon Trail, and emigrants heading west often detoured to see it. One pioneer in 1843 described it as a natural bridge of solid rock over a rapid torrent, the arch as regular as though shaped by hand. It became one of Wyoming's earliest tourist attractions, admired long before it was easy to reach.
For much of the 1800s there was no road in. Visitors had to scramble down the steep canyon walls and push through heavy brush on the floor to reach the arch. A proper road finally arrived in the early 1900s, opening the canyon to the wagons, and later the cars, of ordinary travelers.
How the arch formed
The bridge is carved from the reddish sandstone of the Casper Formation, rock laid down hundreds of millions of years ago. LaPrele Creek, once known as Bridge Creek, looped tightly against a fin of that sandstone, and over long stretches of time the water wore a hole clean through the neck of the bend.
When the creek broke through, it abandoned the long way around and took the shortcut under the new arch, leaving the bridge standing above the water it made. It is a textbook example of a natural bridge formed by a stream, and unusually, the stream is still doing its work.
The canyon and its shade
The park covers about 150 acres of canyon bottom, with lawns, picnic tables, and big cottonwoods that throw deep shade in summer. The creek is cold and shallow enough for children to wade, and the red walls hold the cool air, so the canyon can feel many degrees cooler than the plains above.
Birds work the cottonwoods and the water, deer come down to drink, and the whole place has the feel of an oasis. It is a favorite spot for a picnic, a nap in the grass, and an afternoon of splashing in the creek.
A gift to the public
The park is named for the Ayres family. Alvah Ayres settled a ranch on LaPrele Creek where the bridge stands in 1882 and lived there until his death, and in 1919 the family donated the scenic property so that everyone could enjoy it. It has been a public park ever since, run by Converse County.
That long history of shared enjoyment, from Oregon Trail emigrants to modern road-trippers, is part of the charm. Few places have been beloved by travelers for as long, and the arch has changed remarkably little through all of it.
Closest Boutels
The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.
Things to Do Near Douglas
Douglas
About 12 miles east
The Converse County seat, home of the Wyoming State Fair, the Wyoming Pioneer Memorial Museum, and the town's famous World's Largest Jackalope statue.
Fort Fetterman State Historic Site
About 20 miles east
A restored 1860s Army post above the North Platte River, a supply base for the frontier campaigns, with original officers' quarters and an ordnance warehouse.
Glenrock
About 15 miles west
A small North Platte River town with Oregon Trail history, the Deer Creek Museum, and the Higgins Hotel, near the Rock in the Glen that gave the town its name.