Horseshoe Bend

Horseshoe Bend is a meander of the Colorado River that curves almost 270 degrees through a canyon 1,000 feet deep, creating one of the most dramatic vistas in the American Southwest. The viewpoint is a 20-minute walk from the car park along a path that gains very little elevation, making it accessible to almost anyone. What you arrive at is not subtle: the sheer drop to the river below, the scale of the canyon walls, and the almost perfect circular loop of the river are immediately overwhelming.

Go early in the morning or late afternoon to avoid the full desert heat and the largest crowds. The viewpoint has fencing now, but the scale of the drop is still apparent. Sunrise is spectacular — the canyon walls glow orange as the light hits them — but requires a very early start.

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Horseshoe Bend is technically not in a national park or on Navajo land — it sits on Bureau of Land Management land just south of town, which is why it remained free to visit and relatively unmanaged for decades. The car park was a dirt lot until the Instagram era turned it into one of the most-visited viewpoints in the country; the BLM eventually had to pave the car park, build fencing, and charge an entry fee.