Pick Your Destination Horseshoe Bend (and by extension Glen Canyon) offers a variety of different activities. Because Lake Powell is within the recreational area, visitors can bring a boat or jet ski and swim in the lake as a great family outing.

Glen Canyon Dam is the central element of the Colorado River Storage Project. If it failed, the resulting damage could limit or completely cut off water supply to residences or farmlands along the Colorado River, and depending on damage to canal headworks, even cut off water to southern California.

Like the Grand Canyon further downstream, Glen Canyon is part of the immense system of canyons carved by the Colorado River and its tributaries.

It’s not too difficult although summers can be very hot as there is no shade with the exception of a small gazebo structure halfway to the overlook. The hike will start from the parking lot and is extremely easy to follow. The first part of the trail up to the gazebo is all uphill, but it is a gentle climb.

This trail is short and mostly easy, but this is one of the most popular routes in the Glen Canyon National Recreation area, so users should expect that this area will be quite busy when not moving along the trails.

What’s open and closed? Horseshoe Bend is open, but there are closures at Glen Canyon National Recreation Area.

For the first time in its relatively short history as an international tourism destination, Horseshoe Bend now has an entry fee. Visitors must pay $10 per vehicle to park in the newly improved and expanded lot. Motorcyclists will pay $5, and fees for buses range from $35-$140, based on the number of passengers.