Utah's Famous Wall Arch Collapses At Arches National Park

Wall Arch, one of the most accessible major arches in the Devils Garden area of Arches National Park, collapsed sometime Monday night.
"Not being a geologist, I can't get very technical but it just went kaboom," Chief Ranger Denny Ziemann said. "The middle of the arch just collapsed under its own weight. It just happens."
Wall Arch, located along the popular Devils Garden Trail, was 71 feet tall and 33 1/2 feet wide, ranking it 12th in size among the known arches inside the park. Lewis T. McKinney first reported and named Wall Arch in 1948.
No one reported observing the arch collapse and there were no visitor injuries,

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[mh01]

Crushed under the weight of Al Gore's carbon footprint.

[SiriusMrE]

Did wind and weather really form those things? http://thunderbolts.info/tpod/2008/arch08/080213catastrophicpast.htm

[rupert12]

One of my favorite sayings, in reference to being aware of rockfall while hiking in the mountains, is:
"Remember, geological time includes now."

[Manx]

Henceforth, it will be known as the Archless National Park.

[quadman]

Never mind that the park has over 2000 arches...

[TovSquirrel]

Damned gravity!

I bet it was al Qaeda was involved. too!

Gravity has weapons of mass destruction!

Gravity, along with Space & Time, are the new Axis of evil!

We must destroy gravity there so it won't gravitate here!

[MajorKong]

A few thousand rolls of duct shape should fix that right up.

[Mort]

And a few gallons of crazy glue.

[adamsmith]

Obamessiah will raise it in 3 days with a wave of his hand and a tip of his halo...."We are the ones we've been waiting for".................

[ttownrich]

If that doesn't work maybe congress can pass more legislation for an arch bailout. $30 million could maybe rebuild it with painted styrophoam

[anastasiabeaverhousen]

So many id iots, so few brain cells.

[lessbs]

Adam-too bad you can't spend Sunday morning sober or drug free. What do you think McBush will do about it if they can wake him up and make him understand what happened? Maybe he will try to buy it to add to his $100's of millions of property like the rest of us have that are just plan foke.

[larry278]

See the comments on the Tribune's site. The comments of Sumerian were helpful to me. Sumerian writes like a knowledgable person.

[longnow]

It's a sign I tell yeh, a revelation. There is a dream mine located under the arch
where the real silver tablets are buried. It collapsed when a UFO flew through
it on it's way back to Kolub. THe end times are with us and this is the first phase
of Gods revelation. When that faster than light ship returns to Missouri with you
know who we will enter the bunkers before the landing and when we come out
The Great Salt Lake will be mercury free and the Earth will be reborn as that
great Indian chief and Egyptian mummy Im-Po-Tant predicted.

[nastyvirus]

And the Cubs will win the World Series.

[Pquilson]

careful, now. That may happen!

[PurplePhase]

With all the money Mormons have, why didn't they reinforce the arch if they knew it was so fragile?

Did they expect God to save the arch?

[gage]

The National Park Service, division of the US Department of the Interior, owns it. What on earth does this have to do with Mormons?

[PurplePhase]

The Mormons could have started a fund drive that would raise money and cooperate with the Department of Interior to expedite the project. This should have been done a decade or two ago. It's too late now.

[craneman]

Maybe Purple Phase was refering to the "ARCH" conservitive Mormons.

[bb922335]

Must be "global warming". fools.

[normalkid0615]

your joking, but that's the first thing that popped in my mind.

[Sloan48]

Shoo! You're being a bad troll! McCain won't pay you for trolling a geology thread! Go find a cookie somewhere else.

[CyrusBeaucephus]

A right wing troll feels the need to comment upon global warming--how special! Let me guess you have an advanced degree in Climate Science? Or are you just a student of Prefessor Limbaugh? Do you think we care what an idiot thinks about a serious problem? We don't

[mick7191]

How did O make that happen? Gotta be his fault.

[thatsitfortheotherone]

No. Vast right wing conspiricy.

[Wilburrr]

Looks to me to be a bipartisan effort. The right and left side of the arch collapsed.... how fitting is that?

[wadenelson1]

It's the liberal media's fault. If it was up to the Bush Administration they'd still be sending out pictures of it intact and claiming "nothing happened."

[AmandaBC]

Arches is one of the most beautiful and unique national parks in the US (and Moab is such a nice vacation place, except in the summer, of course, way too hot...) Unfortunately, the NPS doesn't seem to care much (lack of funds, I guess...) I've been there a couple of times, extensively hiked the place and only met ONE park ranger (excluding those at the entrance gate collecting fees.) I've seen children --but also adults-- doing all sorts of stupid things they're not supposed to, although it appears that this collapse had nothing to do with human interaction. Now keep an eye on Rainbow Bridge, in the Lake Powell area (IIRC, the largest natural arch in the world) it's already lost big chunks and it's now much thinner than it used to be.

[alieninvader]

I live in Colorado, and the arches area is a regional destination for ATV's and Mtn. Bikes. They can do a lot of damage. That's why the ATV's have been outlawed in a lot of areas of Colorado. Utah has pretty loose environmental laws.

[mick7191]

You know, they are all going to fall. I'm a Democrat, but even I wouldn't blame the government for something like this. You are an idiot.

[AmandaBC]

I'm not blaming the government for the collapse, I'm blaming it for not taking enough care of such a natural wonder. Obviously your reading comprehension is very low, ergo YOU are the idiot.