River
Little Colorado River
507 km from source to mouth · United States.
United StatesFlows into Colorado River
In numbers
Length
507km
Average flow
150m³/s
Basin
68,635km²
Drop
1,615m
from 2,445 m to 830 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
507 km of river and 17 stops on the way: 4 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 2,445 m
- 0 kmRiver Reservoir0.4 km²
- 19 kmEagar4,869 people
- 25 kmBecker Lake0.3 km²
- 55 kmLyman Reservoir2.7 km²
- 76 kmSaint Johns3,480 people
- 128 kmZuni Rivertributary
- 168 kmWoodruff Bridge
- 191 kmPuerco Rivertributary
- 194 kmHolbrook5,019 people
- 196 kmHolbrook Bridge
- 203 kmObed Road Bridge (1912)
- 214 kmObed Road Bridge (2010)
- 246 kmChevelon Creektributary
- 254 kmWinslow9,600 people
- 346 kmGrand Falls
- 411 kmLittle Colorado River Bridge
- 411 kmCameron Suspension Bridge
- 507 kmColorado Riverat 830 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in the United States of America
At the mouth it carries 150 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 17 seconds. It drops from 2,445 m to 830 m, 3.2 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 68,635 km², about the size of GE. 1.2 million people live in it. Highest water: from October to November; lowest: June. It is heavily dammed: reservoirs can hold 219% of a year's flow.
Where to start
- WinslowLargest city on its banks · 9,600 people
- Flagstaff Pulliam Airport (FLG)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 89 km from the cityCar hire at FLG airport (Flagstaff)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water3 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- Kayak and canoe2 put-ins and rapids mapped (OpenStreetMap)
- From May to SeptemberThe best months to visit
Little Colorado River, month by month
Highest water: from October to November
Lowest water: June. Best months to visit: from May to September.
From about 180 m³/s in the lowest month to 1,300 m³/s in the highest. An estimate: the monthly flow is modelled from the lowest and highest months of WaterGAP (RiverATLAS, 1971–2000) and the rain and snow along the river (WorldClim). Dams change the real rhythm. The chip is the average air temperature; below it, the month's rain.
Plan the trip
Plan the trip: boat trips, a bed by the river, a car
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
The basin
Little Colorado River: the basin in numbers
353,736 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 1.2millionpeople live in the basin
- 3/km²people per km²
- 2,106maverage altitude of the basin
- 341mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 7.2°Caverage air temperature
- 10%protected areas
- 0.3%covered by lakes
- 1%permafrost
- 37km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 35% Forest
- 3% Cropland
- 53% Pasture
RiverATLAS (HydroATLAS v1.0, CC BY 4.0): land cover, people, protected areas, glaciers and dams over the whole basin upstream of the mouth.
Along the river
Little Colorado River: what you find on the way
- 2WaterfallsGrand Falls, Black Falls
- 2RapidsSixtymile Rapids, Lava Canyon Rapid
- 3Boat ramps
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.7 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Little Colorado River in our other atlases
What our sister atlases know about the waterfalls on this river, the lakes it flows through, the beaches at its mouth, the mountains where it rises and the islands off its mouth.
1waterfall on the riverCascadyas
3lakes on its wayLakeyas
16mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Waterfalls (1)
On the river, by Cascadyas
- Grand Fallskm 324
Cascadyas is coming soonOpen Cascadyas ↗
Lakes and reservoirs (3)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- River Reservoirkm 00.4km²
- Becker Lakekm 240.3km²
- Lyman Reservoirkm 522.7km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Mountains at the source (16)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Mount Baldy15 km away · prominence 1,440 m3,478m
- Baldy Peak15 km away
- Boardshack Knoll4.2 km away
- Burro Mountain10 km away
- Mount Thomas14 km away
- Mount Warren15 km away
- Pat Knoll13 km away
- Pool Knoll5.6 km away
8 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗
From space
The source and the mouth, seen from orbit
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2016), CC BY 4.0. The glowing line is the river as drawn by RiverATLAS.
Photos
Little Colorado River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
It flows into
Colorado River
Mexico2,334 km640 m³/sTributaries (3)
Also: Zuni River, Puerco River, Chevelon Creek
Where these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q1152278) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Course, profile, basin | RiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth given by Wikidata |
| Flow | WaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate along the river | WorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Towns, bridges, dams | Wikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0 |
| Along the river | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Our other atlases | Cascadyas, Lakeyas, Peakyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; HydroLAKES · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST |
Every source and licence is on the data sources page.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?
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