Horseshoe Bend hike: the overlook near Page, Arizona

Where the Horseshoe Bend overlook sits

Parking for the walk sits beside US Highway 89, between mile markers 545 and 544 and about 5 miles south of the Carl Hayden Visitor Center at Glen Canyon Dam. From a hotel in Page that is a short run out of town on the main highway, with the turn signed off 89.

Geography matters more here than distance. The Antelope Canyon entrances are east of Page on Highway 98, the Upper park entrance about three miles out and the Lower site on Indian Route 222 less than 10 minutes' drive east of town. Horseshoe Bend is the other way, south on 89. Pairing the two means crossing Page rather than driving anywhere far.

Hours are not a constraint on the land around the trail: the official site gives Glen Canyon National Recreation Area as open around the clock all year, with the Carl Hayden Visitor Center shut only on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day. The car park is a separate arrangement run by the City of Page, so check what is in force on the day you go.

What the horseshoe bend hike actually involves

It is 1.5 miles (2.4 km) round trip on a hardened path, described by the Park Service as ADA-accessible, ending at a rim that looks about 1,000 feet down to the Colorado River as it loops around the sandstone.

The profile is simple: a rise out of the car park, then a steady drop towards the rim, which means the climb comes on the way back when you are hottest. There is no shade worth the name along the path and nothing but open sky and sandstone at the viewpoints. Carry water even for a walk this short. Page averages a daily maximum near 96.0 °F in July, and in January the average maximum is about 42.9 °F with lows near 24.7 °F, so the same path can be a heat problem or a wind-and-cold problem.

Treat the rim as unfenced. The viewpoints put you at the edge of the drop with loose sand and smooth rock underfoot, so keep children within arm's reach, keep well back when you are framing a photo, and do not sit with your legs over the lip. Closed shoes are better than sandals on the hardened surface.

• 1.5 miles (2.4 km) of walking in all, on a surfaced path the Park Service rates ADA-accessible
• About 1,000 feet of drop below the viewpoints to the river
• No shade on the route; the uphill section is on the return leg
• Rim is open and unprotected at the viewpoints, with sand over rock

Parking, passes and the busy-day shuttle

Parking at the trailhead is charged by the City of Page, and America the Beautiful or other National Park Service passes are not valid for it. That surprises people who have just used a pass at Glen Canyon Dam. Budget for the car park separately, or take a tour that carries the admission.

On holidays and busy weekends the City of Page may require all visitors to use a shuttle once the car park fills. If you are driving yourself on a long weekend, going early is the way to avoid that queue entirely.

A second fee gets confused with this one, and it applies at the canyon: Lake Powell Navajo Tribal Park charges $15 per person, per entry for Antelope Canyon, charged separately from guided tour prices, and the canyon sits outside Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, so passes buy you nothing there either. Of the tours listed here, the Award-Winning Lower Antelope Canyon & Horseshoe Bend Tour carries both the Horseshoe Bend admission fees and the Navajo Nation Permit Fee in its price.

Picking your hour at the rim

Light at the bend changes the view completely. In the middle of the day the sun is high enough to reach down the walls and put colour on the river, which is when the shape of the loop reads most clearly from the viewpoints. Early morning and late afternoon leave much of the gorge in deep shadow while the far wall and the rim rock glow, which many people prefer even though the river itself goes dark.

Comfort points the other way. First light is the coolest, quietest hour, with the car park still half empty, and in July that is the difference between a pleasant walk and a sweaty one. Late afternoon gives you warm rock and the sun off the rim, at the cost of the hottest stretch of the day on the uphill return.

One practical trap sits in the clock rather than on the trail. Tour paperwork around Page is written in Arizona time, Mountain Standard Time with no daylight saving, while the Navajo Nation surrounding the town does move its clocks. Set a watch yourself rather than trusting a phone that may have picked up the wrong zone, especially if the rim walk sits right before a canyon check-in.

Slotting it in before or after a canyon tour

Plan Horseshoe Bend as a short block rather than a morning. The walking is 1.5 miles (2.4 km) in total, and most of the time you actually spend goes on parking, the walk back up and standing at the rim taking it in. It fits either side of a canyon departure without drama, because the canyon entrances are only minutes east of Page on Highway 98.

The order that works best is rim first, canyon second, for two reasons. The canyon is the one with a fixed slot and a check-in you cannot move, so put the flexible thing first. And a slot canyon is the better place to be once the day heats up, since the sandstone keeps the interior cool while the rim path has no shade at all.

Keep the margins honest in summer. The canyon half of the day runs inside the tribal park's published summer window of 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and the capital-letter notice on the Navajo Nation Parks site is about closures at short notice when the weather turns. Monsoon dates from the National Weather Service are 15 June to 30 September, with the moisture generally arriving in northern Arizona during the first week of July and some 40 to 50 percent of the year's rain falling across that period. Take a morning canyon slot in those months, leave a spare half-day in the plan, and note that the tours listed here allow free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.

Which tour on this site covers the canyon and Horseshoe Bend

Without a car in Page, go with the Award-Winning Lower Antelope Canyon & Horseshoe Bend Tour, which covers both halves of this page in a single booking: from $160 across 14 to 15 hours, 4.9 ★ (8468 reviews), including round-trip transportation from select hotels, a professional driver and/or guide, the Navajo Nation Permit Fee, Lower Antelope Canyon admission and guided tour, Horseshoe Bend admission fees, a deli lunch with a granola bar and bottled water, and Wi-Fi on board. Gratuities are not included.

Already in Page and short on time, take the Lower Antelope Canyon and Horseshoe Bend Tours - Arizona Tours: from $269 for 3 hours 35 minutes, 4.8 ★ (192 reviews), in an air-conditioned vehicle with bottled water and snacks, and no restroom on board. From a Phoenix or Scottsdale base, the Antelope Canyon and Horseshoe Bend Day Adventure from Scottsdale or Phoenix handles the driving: from $390 over 13 to 14 hours, 4.9 ★ (115 reviews), with pick-up and drop-off, lunch, Horseshoe Bend and a guided one-hour tour of Lower Antelope Canyon with a Native American guide.

Questions people ask

Read also