The Colorado River traverses and collectes the water of a vast, arid region. It drains snowmelt from the western slope of the Rockies in Colorado and Wyoming, from the Uintas of Utah, from the San Juans in Colorado and New Mexico, as well as runoff from the flashfloods across the Arizona deserts. The River and its major tributaries- the Green, the Yampa, the White, the Gunnison, the San Juan, the Little Colorado, and the Gila- thread country of breathtaking beauty, from glaciers to sand dunes, city streets to wilderness, timber to sagebrush, and the highest mountain range to the deepest canyon. In its 1,400-mile journey from the Continental Divide to the Gulf of California the Colorado drops almost 14,000 vertical feet. The River is [...]