Landscape Arch: The Longest Natural Arch Span in the World

The numbers are hard to picture until you’re standing in front of it. A 306-foot span. That’s longer than a football field from goal line to goal line. And the arch holding that record isn’t a solid stone bridge, it’s a ribbon of sandstone barely 6 feet thick at its narrowest point, stretched across open air like something that should have fallen decades ago.

Landscape Arch is the longest natural arch span in the world. The easy 1.9-mile walk to reach it is the first stop on Arches National Park’s Devil’s Garden trail system.

What You’re Looking At

From the viewpoint, the arch reads as almost impossibly thin compared to its length. Most arches are blocky and substantial-looking. Landscape Arch is the opposite. It curves slightly upward in the middle and tapers toward each end, 106 feet above the canyon floor at its highest. The rock on either side is solid and red-orange. The arch itself looks like it was made from a different, more fragile material.

That visual effect is real, not a trick of perspective. At its thinnest section, the arch measures about 6 feet thick. Compare that to its 306-foot span and you start to understand why geologists describe it as one of the most extreme examples of natural arch development on earth.

The arch is also getting thinner. It’s been narrowing for thousands of years as wind and water erode the sandstone. That process accelerated on September 1, 1991, when a slab of rock roughly 60 feet long and 11 feet thick broke free and fell from the underside of the arch. No one was hurt. But the NPS closed the trail that previously ran directly beneath the arch and it has stayed closed since. You’ll see the roped-off section from the viewpoint.

The viewpoint itself is well-positioned. You’re standing directly opposite the full span, close enough that binoculars aren’t needed, far enough back to take in the whole arch in one look.

The Trail

The path from the Devil’s Garden Trailhead runs about 0.95 miles on packed gravel and sand to the Landscape Arch viewpoint. The total elevation gain is under 100 feet. There’s nothing technical about it. Kids handle it easily. So do people who don’t hike regularly.

The trail passes through open slickrock terrain with scattered juniper and pinyon pine. You’ll get partial views of the fins and walls of Devil’s Garden on either side. The surface is generally firm, though there are sandy stretches that slow the pace slightly.

What the easy terrain doesn’t account for is the sun. The trail offers almost no shade. In June, July, and August, midday temperatures at Arches regularly top 100 degrees. Start early, carry more water than you think you need, and wear sun protection. The hike is short but exposed.

The 1991 Rockfall and What It Means

The rockfall that closed the trail under Landscape Arch was a reminder that these formations aren’t permanent on any human timescale. Geologists knew the arch was thinning, but the 1991 event happened without warning. The slab that fell was about the size of a school bus.

Since then, smaller rockfalls have continued chipping away at the arch. The NPS monitors the formation but doesn’t predict collapse. On geological time, the arch is young. It may thin for centuries more before any major failure. Or it could change tomorrow.

That uncertainty is part of what makes standing in front of it feel different from most hikes. You’re looking at something actively in the process of becoming something else.

Photography at Landscape Arch

The arch faces roughly east, which means the best light arrives in the morning. Early light hits the rock directly and turns the sandstone from flat tan to warm orange. By midday the light is overhead and the arch loses most of its color contrast. Late afternoon creates a backlit silhouette effect that works for dramatic shots but eliminates surface texture.

The most common mistake at Landscape Arch is shooting with a wide-angle lens. The full span fills the frame, but the arch reads as a solid, thick structure when it isn’t. A longer focal length, somewhere in the 70-200mm range, compresses the perspective and lets the actual thinness of the arch show. The negative space below the span becomes more visible. The scale reads more accurately.

If you have a tripod, the predawn or early morning timing gives you the chance to shoot the Milky Way above the arch from April through October. The park has minimal light pollution in the Devil’s Garden area.

Where to Go After

Landscape Arch is the first arch on the Devil’s Garden trail system, but it’s far from the last. The main trail continues past it to Navajo Arch and Partition Arch, both reached by short spur trails. The full Devil’s Garden Loop adds Double O Arch, a dramatically different double-opening formation, and the primitive trail that loops back through the fin country.

The full loop runs about 7.2 miles with some scrambling on the primitive section. It’s a different category of hike from the walk to Landscape Arch. But if you’re already at the trailhead and the heat is manageable, the next two arches past Landscape are each under a mile further on maintained trail.

Arches has three broad arch types worth experiencing. Delicate Arch is freestanding, a ring of rock standing alone on a slickrock bowl. The Windows Section arches are true window arches, punched through a wall of fins. Landscape Arch is a span, a crossing, the longest of its kind. Each looks different from the others, but Landscape Arch is the one where the geology feels the most precarious.

The rockfall section is still roped off. Stand at the viewpoint long enough and you’ll notice other visitors go quiet when they first see the arch. That reaction tends to be the same for everyone.