Tonto Natural Bridge Falls

Tonto Natural Bridge Falls plunges 187 feet directly in front of the opening of its namesake natural bridge into Pine Creek Canyon. While this waterfall occurs along a natural watercourse, it is not entirely naturally occurring. The original path of the small spring-fed stream likely flowed into Pine Creek canyon at a different location but the original course of the stream is not known. Between the 1870s and 1970s an orchard farm occupied the flat area on top of and adjacent to Tonto Natural Bridge, and the spring-fed stream was diverted from its natural course and used for irrigation. Arizona State Parks has since restored and redirected the stream to its present course, and uses it to help ensure that the travertine formations which make up part of the natural bridge are replenished by the mineral laden water of the springs by utilizing a part-time diversion of the stream into artificial wetlands on top of the natural bridge, which in effect "turns off" the waterfall temporarily.