National Park Service
Rocky Mountain National Park
The Colorado River starts its journey to the sea high in the Rocky Mountains. Its headwaters lie west of the Continental Divide at more than 10,000 feet elevation in Rocky Mountain National Park.
Only a few feet wide and shallow, the river looks vastly different here than it does further downstream. Hiking to the headwaters, in a park managed to maintain its wilderness qualities, is a memorable experience.
Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park
“A vertical wilderness of rock, water, and sky” is how the gorge is described. Sculpted over millions of years by the Gunnison River and forces of weathering, some of the steepest cliffs, oldest rock, and craggiest spires in North America are found within Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park.
Although a mighty river in its own right, the Gunnison is also a tributary of the Colorado River.
Canyonlands National Park
Canyonlands National Park preserves a wilderness of rock carved into mesas, buttes, fins, arches, spires, and canyons of all shapes and sizes. This is wild America -- its roads mostly unpaved, its trails primitive and rivers free-flowing.
Here the Colorado River is joined by the Green River, often doubling the streamflow below the confluence during spring runoff.
Glen Canyon National Recreation Area
Impounded behind Glen Canyon Dam, the Colorado River backs up for 186 miles (at full pool), forming Lake Powell.
The lake provides major water-based recreational opportunities while its presence in a desert landscape has greatly increased the diversity of plants and animals. This diversity includes more than 300 species of birds, many aquatic and migratory species attracted by the area’s new habitat.
Grand Canyon National Park
A powerful and inspiring landscape, Grand Canyon overwhelms our senses through its immense size. The canyon itself is 277 river miles long, up to 18 miles wide and a mile deep.
Most visitors see it from the rim but 20,000 people annually raft the mighty Colorado, stopping nightly to camp on a sandy beach or rocky ledge, listen to the roar of a nearby rapid, and recall the day’s triumphs and challenges.
Lake Mead National Recreation Area
Completed in 1936, Hoover Dam turned the sometimes violent Colorado River into the still waters of Lake Mead and created an abundance of water and power for the Southwest.
In an area that was once one of the Earth’s hottest, driest regions, two huge lakes, Lake Mead and Lake Mohave, now exist. People flock to the area to live and play -- and our country’s desert landscape has been forever changed.
A River No More
Demand on the river to provide an increasing supply of fresh water to desert cities, agriculture and industry cause the Colorado River to peter out now before reaching the Gulf of California. It flows to the ocean no more.
How will we manage the already over-allocated Colorado River to honor our values and meet our needs, not only for today but also into the future?
Water in the West
Instructions: Click each map point along the course of the Colorado River to learn more.
Starting its journey high in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, the Colorado River flows 1,400 miles through five states to the Gulf of California in Mexico. More than 30 million people depend on the Colorado River for their water needs. The two largest reservoirs in the United States lie along its course, supplying power and providing water for people, agriculture, and industry.
A healthy, flowing Colorado River is one of the West’s most vital natural resources. It sustains a diversity of life, from aquatic species that live directly in the water, to birds and large mammals that rely on its riparian and aquatic environments. The river contributes significantly to the Southwest’s outdoor recreation as well. Freshwater fishing, world-class water sports, and incomparable scenic landscapes top the list.
Several national parks along the Colorado River and within the Colorado River Basin have been set aside by the U.S. Congress. They are among more than 400 parks managed by the National Park Service, whose mission is to conserve the natural and cultural resources of the parks for the enjoyment, education and inspiration of people, today and in the future.