Backyard Destinations

If you spend a moderate amount of time scrolling through outdoor or travel-themed Instagram accounts and/or hashtags, chances are you’ve come across epic photos of Horseshoe Bend in Page, Arizona. That’s how I learned about this natural wonder and how it became another addition to my bucket list.

Page, Arizona is an eight-and-a-half-hour drive from Los Angeles so I knew that if I went there, I had to plan on seeing some other places as well. Might as well maximize the daylong drive, right? 🙂

Being aware of Horseshoe Bend’s existence came in handy when I was planning a road trip earlier this year with my friend and brother. We wanted to see some national parks on a weeklong road trip, and it turned out that we were able to plug Horseshoe Bend into the itinerary.

What to expect + tips

Horseshoe Bend is a free attraction with free parking in a dirt lot.

There’s a brief wike (a term I coined to refer to a walk/hike 😛 ) to get to the site. It’s a relatively easy trail, although there is a small hill to climb close to the beginning. You’ll also be walking on red sand that will definitely get on your shoes and legs/jeans/leggings, so be sure you’re okay with getting whatever you’re wearing a little bit dirty.

If you want to experience Horseshoe Bend before it swarms with crowds, try to get there earlier in the morning. As the day progresses, more and more people show up, so you won’t be able to have as peaceful of an experience later on in the day. I also prefer arriving earlier because the contrast of photos becomes more stark in the middle of the day, whereas the lighting is softer in the morning.

This is just what I recommend, but check out this page to see the opinions of other people who have been there.

Lighting conditions weren’t ideal for me as the day progressed, so I’d suggest coming to Horseshoe Bend earlier if possible.

Another tidbit I would have liked to have known before visiting Horseshoe Bend is that if it’s already starting to get saturated with visitors when you arrive, you should walk around to the right side of the site to take photos. People tend to gather and spend a lot of time at the spots straight ahead at the end of the trail. But you can get equally stunning photos by making your way to the right side. When my friend, brother and I went there, the other side was practically empty, so we were able to take a bunch of photos without having to wait for a turn. It was also nice to hang around in a less chaotic area.

Used the panorama mode on my iPhone to capture this view. You can see that there were more people were on the other side, while the right side was virtually empty for awhile before people started coming around that way.

I love Horseshoe Bend and would love to go back some day 🙂 Highly recommend making a stop there if you’re ever in the area.

Experiencing life on the edge lol

For more information on Horseshoe Bend, click here.