If you’ve researched where to go in your RV or Camper Van, and you’ve been interested in the desert southwest, you’ve probably seen the Instagram-style photos of Horseshoe Bend, a gorgeous bend in the Colorado River, just northeast of the Grand Canyon and just a few miles south of Page, Arizona on US 89.
Well this week we got our chance to see this for ourselves and a little research ahead of time would have prepared us for what we found when we got there.
The first thing we didn’t expect was the toll booth. This is not a free area but actually a paid parking lot. And there was a constant influx of vehicles – RV’s, campers, travel trailers, motorcycles and just cars in general. In retrospect, we should have expected this but for whatever reason it took us by surprise.
And it was quite crowded. This is not the quiet, serene desert experience with silence and solitude. This is more of a “join-with-your-fellow-humans-and-trample-paved-trail-through-the-desert-to-get-a-selfie” kind of thing.
We missed the U-turn-get-me-outta-here-turnaround and were in line for the toll booth before we knew it. Deep breath – we were committed, so we decided to document this so you will be more prepared than we were.
The cool thing is, it turned out to be a pretty fun experience. After you park, there is a 1.5 mile round trip (paved) trail to the canyon edge. And that’s where all the people are, getting selfies.
A railing helps contain them and prevent them from falling off the edge and the view really is quite impressive. If you want a bit more personal space, you can walk past them to where there is no railing and get rubbery legs if you stand too close to the dropoff.
We wandered a ways over there and got ourselves the requisite selfie, because how else would you know we were really there?
So although it was a bit of a shock to suddenly be rubbing shoulders with so many members of our species, we did enjoy it and are glad we did the Instagram thing (especially since we were driving right past it anyway – it would have been difficult to pass up).
Possibly, like many other experiences, this might be less crowded early in the morning.
1 thought on “Horseshoe Bend”
happy to have you pop into my mind; seeing Louise and John pedaling down by the market triggered it; (aren’t they something!) you will be just like them; I am so happy to catch up and be inspired by your committment to travel; I am gathering soo much moss hanging out on san juan with so much withering up and literally dying, lots of folks, the community, you picked a great plan to stay young and inspired! Sam is quite the home body so may never get away till I find a friend for short trips; be safe and enjoy!