As I was typing up the trip report for my hike to Hurst Bridge, I began searching for JR’s trip report because it was the primary reason I wanted to hike there in the first place. Among the search results was Shane Burrows’ report about Exclamation Bridge, which is very close to Hurst. I read that report when it first came out two and a half years ago, but had forgotten about until I came across it again yesterday. I was within a quarter-mile of Exclamation on Saturday and didn’t even realize it! It appears to be the most amazing natural bridge/arch in all of the Swell, and I could have reached it by hiking an additional 30 minutes from Hurst, if I’d only known.
So now I’m dying to go back. Getting there might be a problem because I don’t know the exact location. The NABS gallery page has a map link, and I’m hesitant to put my full trust in that until I get at least some other information confirming the location, but it’s the best I have to go on. Shane has a route description on Climb-Utah, but I’m too cheap to pay for a subscription. Canyon Quest has some pictures of Exclamation Bridge, but no other location info. A blog post from Red Rock Adventure describes a failed search for Exclamation, and this Lynn Sessions photo was taken from the exact same vantage point as the first photo in Shane’s report (linked above) so I’m assuming that Lynn went there or at least tried, but that’s the full extent of the information I can find about the arch.
I’ll keep looking for more info, but I plan on making the trip in a couple of weeks regardless of what I find out. I’m pretty good at stumbling my way into what I’m looking for, so hopefully my luck will hold out and I’ll be able to find Exclamation Bridge.