Horseshoe Bend’s growing pains
Arizona treasure is no longer hidden. Travel,
HORSESHOE BEND, Ariz. – In simpler times (before social media), Horseshoe Bend was a quiet yet spectacular stop along a lonely stretch of highway in northern Arizona.
Visitors would wander in from U.S. 89, just south of Page, Arizona, either because they’d heard of the dramatic bend in the Colorado River from locals or because they noticed the small sign pointing the way and reacted quickly enough to make the sharp turn.
They would take a sandy path to an overlook where the land dropped away steeply to reveal a canvas only nature could paint – an emerald river hundreds of feet below, tracing a graceful arc at the bottom of sharp-edged cliffs.
A few hundred people might stop each day during the summer road-trip season. In winter, maybe just a few dozen.
But those languid days are long gone, lost in the exhaust fumes of the tour buses, party vans and SUVs that choke an area never meant to hold so much glass and steel. Each day they disgorge thousands of visitors, many from China and Germany and France and Japan.
2 million visitors expected in 2018
Last year, roughly 1.5 million people made the half-mile hike to see the way the Colorado River crafted an artful canyon. Officials for Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, of which Horseshoe Bend is a part, estimate that 2 million people will visit in 2018. Precise numbers aren’t available because there’s no entrance station.
It wasn’t always that way. Page City Manager Crystal Dyches remembers heading to Horseshoe Bend when she needed to get away, enjoying a view uncluttered by people.
“It would be nearly empty,” Dyches said. “Here was this stunning overlook just off the highway, and hardly anybody knew about it.”
New parking restrictions
No longer. Horseshoe Bend is one of the most popular destinations in northwestern Arizona, so much so that parking restrictions were recently put in place for safety’s sake.
Large tour buses, which often arrive several at a time during the busy summer months, are no longer allowed to park. They can only drop off and pick up passengers, according to restrictions that went into effect in June.
Visitors can no longer park along U.S. 89, a dangerous but common practice when the lot fills up.
Hiking to Horseshoe Bend
Restrictions or not, the same scenes play out each day at the attraction almost too popular for its own good.
Cars circle the lot for parking spots. Tourists fall into lockstep along the sandy trail over the ridge, some pausing at the top to catch their breath.
The trail descends the ridge. At the bottom, sand yields to smooth, rippling stone that flows toward the canyon of the Colorado, disappearing like a stream over a waterfall.
With each step forward, the canyon reveals a little more of itself. Many visitors stop 10 or 20 feet short of the ledge, satisfied with an obscured but safe view, standing on tiptoe to glimpse the green water below.
Others approach the sheer cliff cautiously, assuming a prone position to poke their heads over the abyss, then rolling on their back to take a selfie.
A daring few sit on the edge, legs dangling for dramatic effect.
Below, a boat powering upriver mars the polished green surface, the craft trailed by the thin white scratch of a wake, a reminder this is not a painting.
Visitors wander along the unprotected rim. There no trails leading down, just a sharp edge with solid ground on one side and empty air on the other.
Accidents are rare, but they happen. On May 6, a Phoenix man fell 800 feet to his death. Zachary Wallace, 33, slipped over the edge, his brother told rangers. In 2010, a Greek tourist fell to his death.
Summer heat also poses a danger. Visitors ill-prepared for the short hike wind up calling 911, according to Pamela Rice, assistant superintendent for Glen Canyon National Recreation Area.
Construction updates
These are among the reasons park officials approved a $750,000 project to build a viewing deck with safety railing, as well as gently sloping, Americans with Disabilities Act-compatible trails that skirt the high point of the ridge. The new path is slightly longer but easier to navigate.
The deck opened June 19, providing a safer way to view the canyon, though visitors are free to explore the ledge.
The opening of the new trail was postponed to January 2019 as construction was suspended because of the summer heat. Work will recommence in September.
A second phase of improvements starts later this year when the city of Page begins construction of a new parking lot.
The project, now in the design process, will include 310 parking stalls for cars and buses, with a potential of up to 130 additional stalls, according to Kim Johnson, the city’s community development director. She said work is expected to be completed by spring 2019.
Admission fee could be coming
The plans also include the installation of three booths to facilitate fee collection, Johnson said. The amount has yet to be determined, though officials are considering $10 per car, $50 per small or midsize bus, and $100 per large bus.
Revenue is expected to be split between between the National Park Service and Page and much of it used to maintain and improve the area.
Once the parking lot and entrance booths are finished, officials will turn their attention to a spacious visitor center designed to blend into the surroundings, according to Dyches, the city manager. That work could start in the latter half of 2019 if the project is included in Page’s 2019-2020 budget, she said.
Page officials also are in touch with the Arizona Department of Transportation in an effort to widen U.S. 89 at the Horseshoe Bend turnoff.
The addition of a left-turn lane likely would reduce accidents caused by visitors who slow or stop to make the turn into Horseshoe Bend, Dyches said.
Details: Horseshoe Bend is 3 miles south of Page on U.S. 89. Horseshoe Bend Tours offers a shuttle that runs hourly 8 a.m.-4 p.m. $30, $20 for ages 6-11. Call 435-275-4594, or visit horseshoebendtours.com.