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Iconic stone arch collapses in southern Utah park (Breaking News, Bush's Fault)
comcast.net ^ | 8/10/2008 | AP

Posted on 08/10/2008 7:20:14 AM PDT by Robert A Cook PE

ARCHES NATIONAL PARK, Utah — One of the largest and most photographed arches in Arches National Park has collapsed.

Paul Henderson, the park's chief of interpretation, said Wall Arch collapsed sometime late Monday or early Tuesday.

The arch is along Devils Garden Trail, one of the most popular in the park. For years, the arch has been a favorite stopping point for photographers.

Henderson said the arch was claimed by forces that will eventually destroy others in the park: gravity and erosion.

"They all let go after a while," he said Friday.

He said it's the first collapse of a major arch in the park since nearby Landscape Arch fell in 1991. No one has reported seeing it fall.

Like others in the park, Wall Arch was formed by entrada sandstone that was whittled down over time into its distinctive and photogenic formation.

The arch, first reported and named in 1948, was more than 33 feet tall and 71 feet across. It ranked 12th in size among the park's estimated 2,000 arches.

Rock has continued to fall from the remaining arms of the arch forcing the closure of a portion of the trail.

Officials from the National Park Service and the Utah Geological Survey visited the site Thursday, noting stress fractures in the remaining formation. The trail won't be opened until the debris is cleared away and it's safe for visitors, Henderson said.


TOPICS: Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; US: Utah
KEYWORDS: arch; collapse; freepun; nationalpark
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To: Robert A. Cook, PE; bigheadfred; Crazieman

This was obviously a controlled demolition.


61 posted on 08/10/2008 11:32:32 AM PDT by Checkers (McCain: "Hillary Clinton would make a good President.")
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To: Robert A. Cook, PE

Well, nuts. At least Monument Valley’s still in one piece.


62 posted on 08/10/2008 11:33:08 AM PDT by mewzilla (In politics the middle way is none at all. John Adams)
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To: bigheadfred

Don’t you mean the Law of Gravitas?


63 posted on 08/10/2008 11:38:36 AM PDT by ShandaLear (Extremists always meet each other full circle.)
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To: Robert A. Cook, PE
So who's taking up the collection to replace it?
64 posted on 08/10/2008 11:47:39 AM PDT by brityank (The more I learn about the Constitution, the more I realise this Government is UNconstitutional !!)
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To: Robert A. Cook, PE

Arches is a fantastic park and another one, Canyonlands, is just down the road a bit. Utah overall has spectacular scenery.


65 posted on 08/10/2008 11:55:23 AM PDT by driftless2
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To: LucyT
Ping!
66 posted on 08/10/2008 12:08:12 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/_______Profile hasn't been updated since Friday, May 30, 2008)
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To: SunkenCiv

Thanks for the ping.

A couple of years ago an eons old ‘Natural Bridge’ collapsed on the island of Aruba.


67 posted on 08/10/2008 12:13:34 PM PDT by LucyT (What happens in Denver....is anyone's guess....August 25 - 28, 2008)
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To: Girlene

HI

Girlene

Just found the blinker, testing it out on you.

68 posted on 08/10/2008 4:13:02 PM PDT by bigheadfred (FREE EVAN VELA, freeevanvela.com)
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To: ShandaLear
Law of Gravitas?

Not familiar with that. I do know about the Law of Gravitass, butt I am willing to learn more, even if it is a big-ass world out there.

69 posted on 08/10/2008 4:25:49 PM PDT by bigheadfred (FREE EVAN VELA, freeevanvela.com)
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To: bigheadfred

I don’t see no blinkin’. Do I need to cover one eye or somefin’?


70 posted on 08/11/2008 4:44:07 AM PDT by Girlene
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To: Girlene

Really? On mine you are blinking. Is it the difference between the Firefox I am using and your web browser?


71 posted on 08/11/2008 5:09:52 AM PDT by bigheadfred (Might as well forge a head)
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To: bigheadfred

LOL. Oh, okay, thanks for setting me straight. Not only am I blinkin’, but I’m winkin’ and noddin’ at the same time. It’s kinda creepy.


72 posted on 08/11/2008 5:15:13 AM PDT by Girlene
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To: Girlene

Interesting that the html on Firefox isn’t translated to IE.
There are a lot of people out there who have been missing some things, IMO. BTW, that is simply ‘blink’. And I had to go h2 font blink to get it to work (in that order)


73 posted on 08/11/2008 5:31:55 AM PDT by bigheadfred (Might as well forge a head)
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To: Kimmers

.....Seriously, I always wanted to see that, all the pictures were beautiful.......

Change the tense..... to “ I want to see all that.”

There are lots of arches still there. The one in question was rather crude and did not posess the nice graceful lines of most of the others.

It might seem far away, but it’s not really.


74 posted on 08/11/2008 5:39:17 AM PDT by bert (K.E. N.P. +12 . Conservation? Let the NE Yankees freeze.... in the dark)
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To: o_zarkman44

A case of fallen arches..


75 posted on 08/16/2008 8:27:53 PM PDT by sheik yerbouty ( Make America and the world a jihad free zone!)
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To: Robert A. Cook, PE
Yes, it is a loss, but the writer of the article seems to want to make it worse than it was. I used to live in Moab and often hiked up into Arches NP to sit in awe of the beauty of these magnificent arches. But I have to point out (yet another!) important error in the AP article made by that stupid and sloppy reporter.In the article it erroneously mentions that another, longer and even more impressive arch, namely Landscape Arch, had collapsed in 1991. That is Totally WRONG!

Landscape Arch is STILL standing and is considered to be the longest natural arch in the world, with a measured span of 290.1 feet(88.4 m). Since 1991, however three slabs of sandstone measuring 30, 47, and 70 feet (9.1,14,and21m long) have fallen from the thinnest section of Landscape Arch, prompting the Park Service to close the trail that once passed beneath it.

So, Landscape Arch still stands, despite what the MSM tries to say.
For more info and picture of Landscape Arch, See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landscape_Arch

76 posted on 02/26/2012 3:35:07 AM PST by auzerais
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To: Lazamataz; Robert A. Cook, PE

Did you hit it?


77 posted on 02/26/2012 3:37:34 AM PST by Larry Lucido (My doctor told me to curtail my Walpoling activities.)
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To: KarlInOhio
I think the Clark Griswold family must have been vacationing there this year.


78 posted on 02/26/2012 3:40:22 AM PST by Larry Lucido (My doctor told me to curtail my Walpoling activities.)
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