Headwaters
Headwaters
Where each river’s water comes from, top to bottom, and the tributaries along the way.
Lower Colorado RiverFrom Glen Canyon Dam and Lees Ferry, about 280 miles through the Grand Canyon to Lake Mead.
Upper Colorado RiverFrom the Never Summer Mountains in Rocky Mountain National Park, across western Colorado, past Moab to the Green River confluence and Cataract Canyon.
Green RiverAbout 730 miles from the Wind River Range in Wyoming, through Flaming Gorge and the Uinta Basin, to the Colorado River in Canyonlands.
San Juan RiverAbout 380 miles from the San Juan Mountains of Colorado, through New Mexico and the Four Corners, to Lake Powell.
Salt RiverNearly 200 miles from the White Mountains of eastern Arizona, through the Salt River Canyon and four reservoirs, to the Gila below Phoenix.
Virgin RiverAbout 162 miles from the high plateaus of southern Utah to Lake Mead, by way of Zion, St. George, a corner of Arizona and the Nevada desert.
San Rafael RiverAbout 90 miles from the Wasatch Plateau, across Castle Valley and the San Rafael Swell, to the Green River.
Escalante RiverAbout 90 miles from the high plateaus above the town of Escalante, through a maze of slickrock canyons, to Lake Powell.
Lake MeadThe reservoir behind Hoover Dam, at the end of the Grand Canyon, the Virgin River and Las Vegas Wash.
Lake PowellThe reservoir behind Glen Canyon Dam, filling about 186 miles of Glen Canyon and its side canyons.