Horseshoe Bend, Glen Canyon Dam, and Page, AZ -- September 2023

Page, Arizona -- September 12, 2023

After leaving the Grand Canyon, we had about a 2 hour drive to Page, AZ. We stopped at Horseshoe Bend, one of the top stops on my list. It is a little before arriving at Page. It is operated by the City of Page, and they charge $10 parking -- cash or credit card. They also provided some very stinky vault toilets, where all did not lock, that we visited before starting the hike to Horseshoe Bend. Trying to pick an entrance, a nice person directed us to the shortest. The dark clouds are coming again, which made a cool picture below, but we kept an eye on them.

After a short hike, we arrived at Horseshoe Bend. There was a good crowd but places to either side to get a view and pictures.

We picked Paco Tacos in Page for lunch. It was really good. I had steak quesadillas, and Travis had a fish taco and a pork taco. After, we went to the Glen Canyon Dam Visitor Center. The rain began. We got a National Parks passport stamp, looked at the displays, were not there at the right time for the interesting sounding park film, and asked about the dam tours. I had read that they were not offered but asked anyway. She noted that the contract ended with the last vendor and that they were looking for a new vendor, so soon would be offered again. However, that did not help us since it is a long drive from home :). We stepped out into the rain for a few pictures of the bridge and the dam. Then we walked partially across the bridge to get a better dam view and river flowing out of the dam, south.

Then we drove to Dam Overlook, a 940 ft round-trip hike, called easy. Though it was downstairs or rock steps that were wet and slippery since it was raining, so we were careful. There were a few other people there, but not many.

After this stop, we went to check into our motel, Motel 6. Motels/hotels were expensive in Page. This is my second Motel 6; we stayed in one in Atlanta before. It was pretty nice and nicer than our second one on this trip. I was booking the last 2 nights of this trip on the Orbitz app the first night of the trip. I was so unprepared; who am I? The Motel 6 had a big shower/tub (However, we determined that the shower only sprayed in a tiny part of the front, so that was all that one could use anyway. After camping, we were very excited for the shower.), was in a nice area with a view of red desert, had wifi and an ice machine, and the A/C was very loud and close to the TV such that both could not really be used at one time. We also turned off the A/C for calls to our kids. After a little rest at the hotel, we drove back toward the bridge and hiked the Hanging Gardens trail, described as 1 mile, round-trip, easy. We got a hikes brochure and map at the visitor center earlier. It was pretty easy, but a little muddy from the rain earlier. The hanging gardens and some views of Lake Powell from the hike.