Horseshoe Bend of the Colorado River

Horseshoe Bend is the name for a horseshoe-shaped meander of the Colorado River located near the town of Page, Arizona, in the United States. The bend is locally known as "King Bend." It is located five miles (8.7 km) downstream from the Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell within Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, about four miles or 6 km southwest of Page. Accessible via a ½-mile (0.8 km) hike from U.S. Route 89, it can be viewed from the steep cliff above. According to Google terrain maps, the overlook is 4,200 feet above sea level and the Colorado River is at 3,200 feet above sea level making it a breathtaking 1,000 foot drop.

Media related to Horseshoe Bend (Arizona) at Wikimedia Commons

The Colorado River (Maricopa: Xakxwet, Mohave: 'Aha Kwahwat, Havasupai: Ha Ŧay Gʼam or Sil Gsvgov, Spanish: Río Colorado), is a river in the Southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, approximately 1,450 miles (2,330 km) long, draining a part of the arid regions on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains. The watershed of the Colorado River covers 246,000 sq mi (640,000 km²) in parts of seven U.S. states and two Mexican states. The natural course of the river flows from the Continental Divide at La Poudre Pass in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, into the Gulf of California between the Baja California peninsula and mainland Mexico.

Large diversions of water for irrigation, and to a much lesser extent to supply cities combined with significant evaporation losses from its reservoirs have dewatered the lower course of the river downstream of Yuma, AZ, above the Colorado River Delta, resulting in it no longer consistently reaching the Gulf of California. More than 20 major dams have been built on the Colorado River and its tributaries.

Arizona (ⁱ/ærɪˈzoʊnə/) (Navajo: Hoozdo Hahoodzo; O'odham: Alĭ ṣonak) is a state of the United States, located in the southwestern region of the country. Arizona is also part of the Western United States and of the Mountain West states. Arizona is the sixth most extensive and the 16th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. The second largest city is Tucson, followed in population by eight cities of the Phoenix metropolitan area: Mesa, Glendale, Chandler, Scottsdale, Gilbert, Tempe, Peoria, and Surprise. These are followed next by Yuma in Yuma County.