Landscape Arch
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Landscape Arch is the longest of the many natural rock arches located in the Arches National Park in the U.S. state of Utah. The arch is among many in the area known as Devil's Garden in the north area of the park. It can be reached by short walk/hike of about 1.5 miles along a maintained trail.
It was named by Frank Beckwith, leader of the Arches National Monument Scientific Expedition, who explored the area in the winter of 1933-1934 (The amusing story that the names of Delicate Arch and Landscape Arch were inadvertently exchanged due to a signage mixup by the Park Service is not factual).
The Natural Arch and Bridge Society considers the Landscape Arch to be the longest natural arch in the world. The Society measured the span in 2004 at 290.1 ± 0.8 feet (88.4 m),[1] which is slightly longer than a measurement made by the Society in 2006 of Kolob Arch located in Zion National Park. Since 1991, three large slabs of sandstone measuring 30, 47, and 70 feet (9.1, 14, and 21 m) long have been witnessed collapsing from the thinnest section of Landscape Arch, forcing the Park Service to close the trail that once passed beneath it. This has led to speculation that the arch is slowly falling apart, and while there is no way to estimate the time remaining, there is some question as to whether it will long remain for visitors to see. On the other hand, shedding those many tons of weight might possibly have made the arch more stable.
[edit] References
- ^ Wilbur, Jay H., "The Dimensions of Landscape Arch," Natural Arch and Bridge Society, retrieved 2007-01-04
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