Arches National Park

Water, ice and extreme temperatures along with underground salt movement created the sculptured scenery of Arches National Park.  It took over 100 million years of erosion to create this area that has the greatest density of natural arches in the world.  More than 2000 arches are recorded in the park.  The smallest is a three-foot opening, the smallest considered to be an arch.  The longest one, Landscape Arch, measures 306 feet from base to base.

Today, new arches are being formed while old ones are being destroyed.  Erosion and weathering are slowly, but continuously changing the landforms in the park. Sometimes change occurs more quickly.  In 1991 a slab of rock about 60 feet long, 11feet wide, and four feet thick fell from the underside of Landscape Arch. This left even thinner span in the arch.

American Indians used the are of thousands of years.  They searched the desert for game animals, wild plant foods, and stone for tools and weapons.  The left a few pictographs and petroglyph panels.  The first white explorers came looking for minerals. Ranchers raised cattle and sheep on the grasses in the area.  John Wesley Wolfe, a disabled Civil War Veteran, and his son Fred, settled here in the late 1800's.  Their weathered log cabin, root cellar, and a corral remain from the ranch they ran for more than 20 years. 

Formation of an arch:

Pictures on the left are from the Arches National Park Visitor Center

The following pictures are of Arches National Park and are in thumbnail form. Double click a picture to see a larger picture.

Petrified Sand Dunes		Wilson Arch just outside the park

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Last Updated February 2005