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A Tour of the Big 10
Photos and information on the world's ten longest rock spans by David Brandt-Erichsen with Jay Wilbur Former Editors, SPAN |
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A Tour of the Big 10
Photos and information on the world's ten longest rock spans by David Brandt-Erichsen with Jay Wilbur Former Editors, SPAN |
Introduction
As far as we know, there are only ten natural arches in the world that have spans longer than 200 feet. All but one of these are in the Colorado Plateau area of the United States. Although there may be other natural arches this long somewhere else in the world, no others have so far been confirmed. The most likely candidate is Tushuk Tash (Shipton's Arch) in China, measured at 1200 feet high, making it the tallest natural arch in the world. The span of that arch has not yet been measured. The first confirmation of an arch over 200 feet outside the United States was Aloba Arch, in the country of Chad, which was measured in 2004. The most recent addition to this list, Outlaw Arch, was only discovered in 2006!
The order given for this list of the longest natural arches in the world is subject to change pending more accurate measurements. Indeed, the ranking on this page has changed six times since this page was first created, and we anticipate further changes. The ranking given is based on the best currently available data. In 2007, Kachina Natural Bridge was bumped off this list when a precision laser measurement found that it was less than 200 feet.
The web pages indexed by the table below include photographs of these ten giant arches, directions on how to get to most of them, and other information about them. You can directly link to photos and information on each arch, or page through them sequentially.
The ten longest natural arches in the world are:
| Rank | Image | Name | Location | Length |
| 1 |
 | Landscape Arch | Arches National Park, Utah | 290 ft |
| 2 |
 | Kolob Arch | Zion National Park, Utah | 287 ft |
| 3 | Aloba Arch | Ennedi Range, Chad (Sahara Desert) | ~250 ft | |
| 4 | Wrather Arch | Paria Canyon, Arizona | 246 ft | |
| 5 | Morning Glory Natural Bridge | Moab, Utah | 243 ft | |
| 6 | Rainbow Bridge | Rainbow Bridge National Monument, Utah | 234 ft | |
| 7 | Sipapu Natural Bridge | Natural Bridges National Monument, Utah | 225 ft | |
| 8 |
| Stevens Arch | Escalante River, Utah | ~220 ft |
| 9 |
 | Outlaw Arch | Dinosaur National Monument, Colorado | 206 ft |
| Snake Bridge | Sanostee, New Mexico | 204 ft |
NotesWe don't know of anyone yet who has visited all 10 of these arches. Visiting Aloba Arch is difficult, and visiting all nine of these features located in the Colorado Plateau requires a considerable amount of effort (one of them is a serious technical climb). Looking for natural arches always takes you into very beautiful places, some of which you might not have thought to visit otherwise. An arch at the end of a journey through natural splendor could be seen as the frosting on a very good cake!
A quick word about the terms "natural arch" and "natural bridge." A natural arch is basically a hole eroded completely through solid rock. A natural bridge is a sub-category of natural arch, consisting of an arch that has formed over a water course. Several natural arches are incorrectly called natural bridges, including at least one of those listed above.
For many years it was not known with any degree of certainty which arch is the longest in the world. The two contenders for this position were Landscape Arch in Arches National Park and Kolob Arch in Zion National Park. The most precise measurement of Landscape Arch was obtained in 2004, and the most precise measurement of Kolob Arch was obtained in 2006, so it was not until 2006 that the controversy seems to be laid to rest.
Part of the problem of varying reports of the size of natural arches stems from not applying a precise definition of the "span" of an arch which would apply to an opening of any geometry. A technical committee of the Natural Arch and Bridge Society (NABS) has produced a proposed set of standard definitions for the dimensions of natural arches which can be found in our Arch Info pages. The definition of the span of an arch can make a big difference in its measurement. As one example, the US Forest Service reported a span of 92 feet for Hole in the Rock Arch in McCreary County, KY, whereas NABS measured the span at 20 feet.
Whereas no arch is currently known to exist that is longer than 300 feet, there are two arches, now fallen, which might have exceeded 300 feet in size. These are Bridge of the Gods in the Columbia River Gorge of Oregon-Washington, and Fallen Monarch in Natural Bridges National Monument, Utah.
Now start your Big 10 Tour with a trip
to our first giant, Landscape Arch...
