Though the biggest arches are found in the western desert states and in Kentucky, several other states have some interesting spans. And of course other countries have some too -- the Sahara in Libya and Chad has an impressive variety of arches, and some of the largest in the world are in China. But right here in the United States we have more than anywhere else. So here are a few from other states.
Monument Rocks:
South of Oakley, NW Kansas
Arches, in Kansas? Seems pretty unlikely, but
they've got a nice one. It's right down on ground level too; you can drive
right to it, if you can figure out which obscure dirt road to take off the
highway. Cows even wander through it all the time. And it will get
bigger -- the rock isn't much more than hard, dried mud. But because of
that, it won't last long, either. Oh, it may last a few more centuries,
but that's not much compared to the sandstone arches of the desert, or the
granite spans of Kentucky.
Death Valley Natural Bridge
In Death Valley National Park,
California
This is the largest span
in Death Valley, and is of a quite impressive size, as can be seen by the
silhouette of the person standing in the dry stream bed beneath it.
However, the utter lack of greenery and varied rock colors, not to mention
water, make it more stark and barren than is usual for a natural bridge.
The stream that formed the bridge is hardly ever in evidence, but when it does
come through, it can be a powerful flash flood.
The Little City of Rocks
South Central Idaho
There were no major arches here
in this interesting place, which gets
few visitors; but there were many
odd and bizarre rock formations
plus a few small arches and windows
like the one seen on the right here.
Natural Bridge of Texas --
New Braunfels, Texas
This was once the opening to a cave, then part of the
roof of the cave behind the opening collapsed, leaving this nice thin
bridge. The cave still exists, and can be toured.
Natural
Bridge of Virginia --
North
of Roanoke VA
This is the largest span in the eastern states.
It is on land first scouted out by George Washington when he was a young
surveyor, and then was later purchased by Thomas Jefferson for about $2.50, who
built a lodge there. It is now a state park, and as you can see by the
broad sidewalk going under it, it has been overdeveloped for the sake of
tourists, who supposedly come to see Nature, not sidewalks. Yes, it's nice
that it is accessible to all now, but true Nature simply isn't accessible
to all and never has been. For the benefit of a few (and to make money) it
has been ruined for the majority, which is a fault of many state parks all over
the country -- they destroy exactly what they are supposed to protect, by
setting up restrooms, guardrails, garbage cans, picnic tables, snack bars, gift
stores -- all in plain sight of the monuments they are supposed to be
preserving. When Nature is thus tamed and humanized, it loses much of its
power to awe and inspire. When will the parks ever learn? Leave
it like God designed it!!
The worst crime here is that, believe it or not, a
state highway runs right over the top of this bridge! Yes, a 2-lane
blacktop highway, complete with thousands of cars and rumbling transport trucks
roaring over it every day, is right behind those trees on top! It was a
cheap way to get a road across the valley, but how can that possibly be healthy
for the structure of the grandest span of the East, and probably the best-known
natural bridge in the world?
To be fair, the development below the bridge was quite
tasteful, I was semi-impressed at how well it was done. The only really
intrusive thing was the sidewalk, and it at least was done with stone and
gravel, not concrete; though the low wall beside it was unnecessary... if
someone is tipsy enough to fall the 5 feet into the stream, let 'em fall.
There are far worse examples all over the country of natural sights that have
been destroyed by "improvements", the pretty little Natural Bridge of
Wyoming being one of the most execrable. In fact, the whole National Park
system was started a century ago to avoid this overbuilding, in part because of
the absolute disaster surrounding Niagara Falls, with its disgusting commercial
and industrial development on all sides -- a great sight forever ruined by man,
even that long ago (it got worse: several revolving restaurant towers peer right
over the edge now). What a national park that would have made! It
was sacrificed, but because of it, at least we learned, sort of. The
National Park Service was formed so no more of our country's great features
would be destroyed by commercialism like Niagara was. So when the great
sights of the West were discovered, they were protected by this newly formed
Park Service before they could be wrecked forever.
The Natural Bridge of Virginia is not in a National
Park, but it is very well worth seeing. Like I said, they overdid the
improvements, but at least they did a good job of overdoing it. But
that highway on top!! No! It's got to go!!