Little Colorado River

Little Colorado River gorge near Grand Canyon NP

Old bridge across Little Colorado canyon at Cameron, Arizona

The Little Colorado River is a tributary of the Colorado River, approximately 315 mi (507 km) long, in the U.S. state of Arizona. The river provides the principal drainage for the Painted Desert.

It rises in eastern Arizona, in southeastern Apache County, and flows northwest, through a series of deep gorges, past the towns of St. Johns, Holbrook, and Winslow. It joins the Colorado in the Grand Canyon, approximately 70 mi (113 km) north of Flagstaff.

The river is dammed near St. Johns for irrigation, which then created a reservoir and is now Lyman Lake State Park.^[1]

The Grand Falls of the Little Colorado

It is one of the larger tributaries of the Colorado River, carrying up to 5200 cubic feet per second (150 m³/s), though its flow is highly irregular, and can drop to as little as 150 cfs during very dry periods. Flows of 30,000 cfs or greater are common during downpours. The Grand Falls of the Little Colorado, at 185 feet, has a greater drop than Niagara Falls. The flood plain erosion gives an idea of the flow in spate.

See also

• List of Arizona rivers
• List of tributaries of the Colorado River

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Category:Little Colorado River

1. ^ Lyman Lake State Park