Images of Glen Canyon National Recreational Area, around the Park – Northern Arizona and Southern Utah, taken in April 2018.

Everything on Lake Powell revolves around the Wahweap Bay and marina. This is where most people start their adventures; tours, boating, fishing and all manners of water sports. It’s where I parked my RV for the two weeks I was here and where my tour to Rainbow Bridge National Monument began.

The area is expansive and all created by the building of the Glen Canyon Dam and the waters of Lake Powell behind it. In 1972 the entire area was set aside as the Glen Canyon National Recreational Area. While the damming of the Colorado River reshaped the region, there are still areas downstream of the dam which reveals what the area looked like before the dramatic changes took place. Two of those places are Horseshoe Bend and the Navajo Bridge. Both are photographic wonders; Navajo Bridge casting its shadow into Marble Canyon while Horseshoe Bend sees the Colorado River cut its way through rock to expose its namesake shape. Both are sensational but it is Horseshoe Bend that attracts the most visitors. Perhaps it’s because of the sites close proximity to the town of Page but the place is crawling with tourists. Chaos in the dirt parking lot, throngs of people on the mile long trail and crowds inching to the edge of the abyss where they pose for that perfect selfie. They’re in the process of building a viewing platform because of the danger but it wasn’t soon enough for the guy that fell over the edge just two days before my visit. I’ve seen this crazy behavior many times before and I still don’t understand how putting your back to the beautiful site and getting your face in front of it enhances the picture; I’m just glad when I can cut through the crowd to get a shot of the beautiful part and wall it off from the craziness!