The Colorado River is the primary river of the American Southwest, draining some where in the vicinity of 242,000 square miles of land, from the states of Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California and Mexico.

The headwaters of the Colorado River are located in Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado. From here, at an altitude of 9,010 feet, the Colorado begins it's flow southwestward toward the Gulf of California and the Pacific Ocean.

The Colorado River was originally named Rio Colorado or "Red River" by the Spanish.

Before construction of the Glen Canyon Dam the river would carry 500,000 tons of silt and sediment per day, in an average day, through the Grand Canyon.

Construction of the Glen Canyon Dam has adversely affected the ecology of the Grand Canyon. Flash floods that would at one time scour the inner-canyon clean and deposit fresh sand along the beaches no longer occur. The water temperature, which used to get as warm as 80 degrees, is now icy-cold all year and averages around 42 degrees. Because of the changes in the water temperature some of native fish that used to inhabit the river have become extinct and still others are endangered. The Rainbow Trout, a non-native specicies which was introduced into the Colorado River, thrives in the colder waters and makes it even more difficult for the native fishes to survive.

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