Horseshoe Bend

Horseshoe Bend is a 270-degree loop of the Colorado River about 5 miles south of Page, Arizona, seen from an overlook roughly 1,000 feet above the water. The Park Service counted 831,631 recreation visits there in 2024.

The visit is a car park, a short walk and a rim, but three authorities share the ground. We read the figures below on 30 October 2026 on the Park Service's Glen Canyon pages, the City of Page's two Horseshoe Bend sites, NOAA's climate normals and the rafting concessioner's own page.

Whose land is the overlook on: Glen Canyon, Page or the Navajo Nation?

The overlook stands on Navajo Nation land, according to the Park Service, while the river below it belongs to Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. The Park Service page for the bend, updated on 18 August 2026, splits the ground three ways:

• Glen Canyon National Recreation Area: the bend itself and that stretch of the Colorado River.
• City of Page: the car park, US 89 and the land north of the trail, halfway to the overlook.
• Navajo Nation: the land south of the car park, the trail and the overlook.

The Park Service's fees page words it more simply and puts the overlook in Glen Canyon. Both can hold if the park boundary follows the river below the rim, but the Park Service does not say so.

The City of Page runs the car park and the official site, and states plainly that this is not a Navajo tribal park. The $15 Navajo fee and the guide rule of Antelope Canyon therefore do not apply. About nine miles downstream, in the Park Service's wording, the canyon passes into Grand Canyon National Park.

What does the City of Page charge at the bend's car park?

The City of Page charges $10 for a car, truck or RV, under the fee schedule it adopted as Resolution 1345-26 on 10 June 2026. The city's site prints "no discounts, no refunds".

National park passes do not work here. The city's site says it does not accept America the Beautiful passes, and the Park Service says the same of Glen Canyon passes. Glen Canyon is not one of the eleven parks with the $100 non-resident surcharge either, and a visitor from abroad pays the same parking fee as an American driver.

The Park Service lists seven Glen Canyon entrance stations, from Wahweap to Lees Ferry, and none of them is at the bend. The only charge at the lot is the city's parking fee.

No Park Service page says in so many words that a visitor who walks to the overlook owes no Glen Canyon entrance fee. That conclusion is our reading of the two agencies' pages. Our guide to national park fees for international visitors covers the passes that do apply elsewhere.

Payment depends on which city site you read. The city's Horseshoe Bend site takes cash and physical cards, with cash only "in rare cases" such as a card-machine fault or heavy traffic. The city's visitor site says cash and cards on weekdays and cash only on holiday weekends. Neither accepts tap-to-pay, so carry both cash and the card itself.

The lot opens from sunrise to sunset, with times that "may vary", by the city's account; neither agency gives clock times. Parking on US 89, a 65 mph highway, earns a ticket and a tow. A city emergency ordinance also bans dropping off or picking up passengers at the entrance or along the highway.

How hard is the 1.5-mile walk out to the rim?

The walk out to the rim is 1.5 miles (2.4 km) round trip on a hardened path, by the Park Service's measure, and its day-hikes page rates it easy. The city's Horseshoe Bend site rates it moderate and its visitor site easy. The city gives about 20 minutes each way on a "relatively flat, packed dirt trail".

The city's one climbing figure is "Elevation Gain: 137 Feet". Neither city site says whether that is the climb back to the car or the total for the walk, and the Park Service gives no elevation at all.

The trail has two shade structures along its length and none at the overlook. The Park Service otherwise calls the path one with very little shade. There is no water along the trail, and no page we read says whether the lot has drinking water. Bring it from Page.

The toilets are in the car park, at its south end, and the trail has none. The Park Service calls the path accessible under the Architectural Barriers Act. The city welcomes wheelchairs, strollers and dogs on a leash. Bikes, skateboards and motor vehicles are banned on the trail.

The city finished expanding the lot in early June 2019, with a separate RV area and accessible spaces near the trailhead. Camping is not allowed at the bend, which the Park Service counts among Glen Canyon's developed areas. The lot is also one of three starting points of the Vermilion View Trail, a far longer rim hike of about 14 miles round trip.

Where does the railing stop at the 1,000-foot drop?

The railing stops at the edge of the overlook's viewing platform, and the trail and the rest of the rim have none. The Park Service warns that much of the rim stays exposed to the drop of about 1,000 feet (305 m) to the river. Watch your footing, and keep track of children and pets.

The city built the fenced overlook area in 2018. Visitors who step beyond it are asked to take care, because the sandstone edges "can be unstable". Call 911 in an emergency. The city's own warning is blunter: "Cashiers are not EMTs."

How hot does the rim trail get in July?

The rim trail sits in a July average high of 96.5°F at the Page weather station, by NOAA's 1991 to 2020 normals. The station averages 85.7 days a year at or above 90°F and 15.8 days at or above 100°F. The figures below are for that station, at about 4,270 feet.

NOAA rates these temperature normals Representative, its grade for a station with 10 or more years of data. The city warns that summer heat can pass 100°F (37°C) with minimal shade. Its site adds that the ground can burn a dog's feet.

The Park Service's heat advice for the bend is practical. Drink plenty of water even when you are not thirsty, avoid the hottest part of the day and never leave a pet in the car. For Glen Canyon as a whole, it calls autumn "usually nice and mild", a time to beat the heat and the crowds.

When does the bend's car park fill, and is there a shuttle?

The bend's car park fills on holidays and busy weekends, the only crowd times the City of Page names. Neither the city nor the Park Service says that any hour of the day is busier than another. The Park Service counted 831,631 recreation visits in 2024 and says visits have "increased sharply in the past few years".

The Park Service's count sits outside Glen Canyon's printed 2024 total of 4,725,610, which the park's seven other districts already reach within three visits. The Park Service does not explain why. The City of Page prints a different figure, "1,422,000+ visitors in 2023", without saying how it counts. The two are different years and different counters.

The city's visitor site says the city may require a shuttle once the lot is full on holidays and busy weekends. The city's Horseshoe Bend site and the Park Service's main page do not mention one. Roadside parking and drop-offs stay banned when the lot is full.

Which clock is the overlook on before and after 1 November?

The overlook is on Navajo Nation land, which keeps daylight saving time, while the car park and the City of Page keep Arizona time. Arizona stays on Mountain Standard Time all year, and the Park Service says Glen Canyon does too. The Navajo Nation's president's office confirms that the Nation moves its clocks.

In 2026 the two clocks were an hour apart from 8 March to 2 a.m. on 1 November, and they agree until 14 March 2027. The lot opens at sunrise and closes at sunset, so the gap touches no gate time.

The hour matters for anything booked to a clock: the Park Service suggests setting a phone to Arizona time for reservations in Page and at Antelope Canyon. No source says whether a phone switches zones on the walk to the rim.

Can you fly a drone over the bend or film on the rim?

Flying a drone over the bend is prohibited: the Park Service bans launching, landing or operating one in Glen Canyon without the superintendent's written approval, under 36 CFR 1.5. The City of Page also bans drones on the trail.

Filming is looser. Since the EXPLORE Act took effect on 4 January 2025, the Park Service requires no permit or fee in most cases for filming, still photography or audio with eight or fewer people. Every condition must hold: hand-carried gear only, no exclusive use of a site and no harm to the place. The park's compendium counts a tripod or monopod as hand-carried. A set, staging gear or a crew of more than eight needs a permit.

The overlook's own rules are not settled on any page we read, because the Park Service puts the overlook on Navajo land. The City of Page's visitor site says any filming on the Navajo Nation needs a permit from the Navajo Nation Film Office. We found no Navajo page about the overlook.

Can you see the bend from the river on a half-day raft?

The bend can be seen from the river on a half-day float trip run by Wilderness River Adventures, the Park Service's concessioner, from Lees Ferry to the bend and back. The operator's page describes 10 river miles with no rapids. Trips start and end in Page, with a one-hour bus ride to Lees Ferry and a stop at Petroglyph Beach.

On 30 October 2026 the operator's page listed $129 for an adult aged 16 or over and $113.82 for a child aged 4 to 15. Its prices exclude a park entrance fee of $15. Check-in is 45 minutes before departure at River Headquarters, 199 Kaibab Road in Page.

The page lists trips from 1 March to 31 October and prints no year. Cancelling costs $10 per person, and there are no refunds inside 48 hours. Call the operator before planning a trip outside those dates.

How far is the bend from Page, Antelope Canyon and the Grand Canyon?

The bend lies about 5 miles south of Page by the Park Service's figure, off US 89 between mile markers 544 and 545. The other distances below are from our own routing, measured from the car park.

Our Antelope Canyon guide covers the Navajo-guided tours, and our guide to Page, Arizona covers Lake Powell, the dam and where to sleep. The bend belongs to the Page stop of our Southwest national parks loop, on the road south to the Grand Canyon National Park South Rim. It is also one of the stops in our guide to Arizona.