Delicate Arch - Arches National Park, Utah - American Guide Series on Waymarking.com

"In Delicate Arch section there is but one arch of any consequence, yet it is probably the most popular section with return visitors. Salt Valley road terminates at Turnbow's cabin, a specimen of frontier log-and-mud-chik architecture almost completely identified with the ground on which it stands. From the cabin, the west buttress of Delicate Arch is visible against the skyline. The trail begins in the canyon bottom, ascends from it after a quarter of a mile, and climbs across slickrock to the top of the canyon wall. Below, in a shallow depression, its sides rising like those of an irregular saucer, is a platform that rises almost as high as the walls, and atop it, alone and sharp against the sky, is Delicate Arch."

--- Utah. A Guide to the State, 1941

Delicate Arch, a 52 foot, freestanding arch, like many other arches in the monumnet, is made of Entrada Sandstone, and was formed by wind erosion. The arch received it's present name from the leader of the 1933-34 Arches National Monument Scientific Expedition, Frank Beckwith. Prior to that, it's shape lend it names like "the Chaps" and "the Schoolmarm's Bloomers" by local cowboys.

Surprisingly, this arch was not included in the US National Monumnet at it's inception in 1929. It wasn't until the monument was enlarged in 1938, that Delicate Arch fell into the park's boundaries.

Access to the arch is at the end of a 1.5 mile hike, which can get rather hot in the summer months.