The lintel, we were extremely anxious to minimize our disturbance of Thus, visitors are not allowed to access the archīeyond viewpoints on the main Devils Garden Trail.Īlthough we were granted special permission to access the area under Promote restoration of the fragile desert environment immediately underĪnd around the arch. In addition to safety concerns, the Park wishes to These rockfalls also obliterated most of the northern leg Has closed the loop trail that once provided access to the area underneath Two obstacles must be overcome to measure Landscape Arch. Landscape Arch has the greatest span of any natural arch in the world. Measurements and how they influence a determination of whether or not Landscape Arch, summarize the measurements with analysis of their accuracyĪnd precision, and discuss these results in the context of previous The following sections of this paper describe the methods used to measure In obtaining these results was essential and is gratefully acknowledged. The cooperation and assistance of the Park Of standardized dimensions, they are both repeatable and comparable,Į.g., to Kolob Arch should accurate, standardized measurements be obtained This effort was successful in obtaining very accurate measurements Of the arch using modern laser technology and the published dimensionĭefinitions. Glen and Bryce and wife Judy, and with the assistance of park rangersĭiane Allen, Sharon Brussell, and Murray Shoemaker, took new measurements On June 7 and 8, 2004, he, along with sons

In February 2004, Arches National Park granted the author permission Is available on their website, along with technical definitions Theĭefinition, developed by the Natural Arch and Bridge Society (NABS), ThisĮliminates many of the problems that plagued the earlier attempts. Repeatable for a given arch and comparable for different arches. Technical, its careful application ensures that span measurements are The second is the publication of a standard, preciseĭefinition of the span of a natural arch. The first of these is the ready availability of highly accurate laser Two recent developments, however, make new measurements desirable. Until this year, there has been no further progress toward a definitiveĪnswer. The published measurements wereĪnything but clear-cut and certain. Depending on whom you believed, a case could be made forĮither arch having the greater span. At about the same time, two other independentĪttempts to measure Kolob Arch were made. Mid-1980s, two independent attempts were made to measure Landscape Arch. Landscape Arch and Kolob Arch fall into the difficult category. Unfortunately, for different reasons, both The other contender is Kolob Arch in Zion National Park.įor many natural arches, the span is fairly easy to measure. Since its discovery, Landscape Arch has been a leading candidate for When applied to natural arches and can't be quantitatively measured. Is preferred because terms like 'largest' and 'longest' are rather ambiguous

The span, a very precisely defined dimension, The greatest span should be given the title of the world's 'largest' In part, thisĬontroversy is driven by a desire to definitively determine the naturalĪrch with the world's greatest span. In Arches National Park, for at least the past 20 years. That equal the precision and accuracy of those now available for LandscapeĬontroversy has swirled around the dimensions of Landscape Arch, located However, this can only be confirmed by measurements of Kolob Arch Of 'largest' natural arch in the world, Kolob Arch has the greatest Indicate it is likely that, of the known contenders for the title 5 feet,Ī thickness of 6 feet, and an opening breadth of 295 feet. Results are that Landscape Arch has a span of 290.1 ±. Using laser technology and the NABS standard definitions for naturalĪrch dimensions, a team led by the author re-measured Landscape Arch in June 2004, with a very high degree of accuracy and precision.

Landscape arch length