Loading map...

1985 Map of Wild Horse Mesa

Name: 1985 Topographic Map of Wild Horse Mesa
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1985
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1985

About this map

Navajo Indian Reservation lands dominate this high-desert landscape, where the rising waters of Lake Powell wind through deep sandstone corridors. Mapped during the mid-1980s, the terrain shows the complex relationship between the newly established Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and ancestral tribal territories. The intricate shoreline of the reservoir reaches into Labyrinth Bay and snakes through the Canyon, contrasting with the massive, flat-topped silhouettes of Wild Horse Mesa and Rainbow Plateau.

Remote 4WD tracks provide the only land access across these vast benches, connecting isolated water sources like Lower Spring to prominent landmarks such as Tower Butte and Pinnacle Rock. The topography is defined by sharp elevation changes from the lake surface to the heights of Cummings Mesa, illustrating the dramatic scale of the Colorado River drainage system after the completion of the Glen Canyon Dam. The map also records indigenous place names like Kichii Nlahi and Tse Bin'oobaahi, preserving the cultural geography of the Coconino backcountry.