Horseshoe Bend & Glen Canyon

Horseshoe Bend & Glen Canyon: The Bend, the Dam, and the Drowned Canyon

10 stops· 19 min· 9.5 mi

Stand a thousand feet above the Colorado River as it swings through a perfect horseshoe of stone — then drive the high desert country of Page, Arizona, to the great dam that changed this river forever. Ranger Quinn walks you out to the famous Horseshoe Bend overlook, then drives you north on Highway 89: through the youngest town in the region, across one of the highest bridges in America, to Glen Canyon Dam and the vast blue sprawl of Lake Powell. Ranger Boone Merrick rides along with the tales this canyon country keeps — the dizzying drop and the people the edge has taken; a one-armed Civil War major who ran these rivers blind in 1869 and named the canyon for its glens; the drowned wonderland of Glen Canyon, the most beautiful place hardly anyone ever saw, now four hundred feet under the reservoir; and the Diné, the Navajo people, whose land this red country is. It's a short walk on sand to the rim and an easy, gorgeous drive — bring water and sun protection, mind the unfenced edges, and come in the cool half of the year, because this desert bakes in summer.