Rivers and National Recreation Areas

Buffalo National River is located in Northwest Arkansas, and protects about 140 river miles (55 linear miles) of the Buffalo River as it flows through the Ozarks. I'm not quite sure why the Buffalo gets National River status, but a National River it is.

They've been developing more sites along the river since I first visited in 1992, and it is a scenic place. I've only been to two sites, both along AR-7, Ozark and Pruitt Landing.

The Colorado River starts as a small stream in Rocky Mountain National Park, and gathers hundreds of other streams and rivers along the way to become the lifeline of the Southwest, providing water, electricity and recreation to millions in the five states the river flows through or touches.

I've actually followed the river in one form or another, from Rocky Mountain National Park to Grand Canyon. I've also done more river miles on the Colorado than any other river...

In 2006, I was doing a Lewis and Clark thing, and you can't do Lewis and Clark without seeing the Columbia River Gorge. It's an impressive river, the only river route through the Cascades.

I encountered the river twice, once in Washington where I-90 crosses the Columbia, and the other was following the Columbia River Gorge from Portland to I-82 where I-84 turns to the Southwest as the river turns to the North.

Bighorn Canyon NRA spans both Wyoming and Montana, but I've unfortunately only seen the park as a throughway from Yellowstone to I-90.

Thus, I only have pictures through the NRA (and the Bighorn National Forest) along US-14A. (I was told at one time US-14A was the more scenic route.)

I only passed through Curecanti NRA as a consequence of driving US-50 through Colorado.

Since there are only seven images, they're on the US-50 (Colorado) page.

The Glen Canyon National Recreation Area encompasses and products the Colorado River (and many of its tributaries) from Canyonlands to Grand Canyon National Park. It is mostly a creation of the Glen Canyon Dam, which creates a reservoir behind it (Lake Powell) a hundred miles long.

Included on this page is the Navajo Bridge at Marble Canyon and the Lees Ferry Unit of the park, river level access a dozen miles below the dam.

Glen Canyon Dam is a 600 foot high thumbnail that holds back the Colorado River creating the massive reservoir named Lake Powell.

I took the Dam tour, and it was a pretty dam good... uh... It was an impressive tour which takes you all the way down to the generator room via two sets of elevators. No stairs, but there is some walking involved.

Lake Powell is created from the Colorado River (and its tributaries) by the Glen Canyon Dam. It's approximately 140 river miles (100 linear miles) long, and provides water, power and entertainment to millions in the Southwest.

Using it as a water route is also the only convenient way to get to Rainbow Bridge National Monument. These images are of the 50 river miles from Wahweep to Rainbow Bridge National Monument.