United States Canyon
El Dorado Canyon
755 m of rock, cut by the Eldorado Wash.
Agnieszka Kwiecień, Nova · CC BY-SA 4.0
The cut
755 metres, to scale.
A slice through El Dorado Canyon where it is deepest and narrowest, measured on the Copernicus relief model every 30 m. Same scale as the landmark standing on the floor.
Standing on the floor, to scale: Great Pyramid · 139 m · Empire State · 443 m
Depth is measured to the lower rim; the width is from rim to rim. A 30 m relief model smooths the narrowest walls, so a slot canyon reads shallower than it is. On one side the ground was still rising 12 km out: the true rim is further away and the canyon deeper.
755m
Depth
measured on the 30 m relief model
21.6km
Rim to rim
measured on the 30 m relief model
22°
Steepest wall
average over 300 m, from the relief
194m
Floor altitude
Rim to floor
5 °C warmer at the bottom.
In July the afternoon reaches 43 °C on the floor, against 38 °C on the rim. The best months to hike are from February to March and in November. The floor passes 35 °C from June to September: walk at dawn and carry water.
- 17°12°Jan
- 19°14°Feb
- 24°20°Mar
- 29°24°Apr
- 35°30°May
- 42°36°Jun
- 43°38°Jul
- 42°37°Aug
- 38°33°Sep
- 30°25°Oct
- 23°18°Nov
- 16°11°Dec
Afternoon highs, 1991–2020 averages (NASA POWER) brought to the altitude of the rim and of the floor with the standard lapse rate (6.5 °C per 1 000 m). Shade, wind and rock change this on the day. Not a forecast.
Ravine in Clark County, Nevada, United States
El Dorado Canyon is a canyon in United States, cut by the Eldorado Wash river. The relief model measures 755 m from the floor to the lower rim. Rim to rim it is 22 km wide where the cut was taken.
Getting there.
- Lake Mead Viewpointnearest viewpoint · 3.0 km from the floor
- Boulder City Municipal Airport (BLD)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 30 km in a straight lineCar hire at LAS airport (Las Vegas)Discover Cars · sponsored link↗
- From February to March and in Novemberbest months to hike (estimate)
Plan the visit
Guided hikes, a bed nearby, 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 river
The Eldorado Wash runs highest from February to April.
The Eldorado Wash carries about 538 m³/s on average here. It runs highest from February to April. It is lowest from June to October.
- 857 m³/sJan
- 1,181 m³/sFeb
- 1,169 m³/sMar
- 917 m³/sApr
- 612 m³/sMay
- 270 m³/sJun
- 211 m³/sJul
- 253 m³/sAug
- 268 m³/sSep
- 324 m³/sOct
- 393 m³/sNov
- 593 m³/sDec
From about 211 m³/s in the lowest month to 1,181 m³/s in the highest. Its basin above this point covers 424,629 km².
Follow the Colorado River from source to mouth on Riveryas
Estimate: long-term flow from the HydroATLAS model (WaterGAP, 1971–2000) shaped by the monthly rain, snow and temperature of the area (NASA POWER). Dams change it. Not a forecast.
From the sky.
The canyon from above, with the relief shaded, the line of the cut, the river and what people have mapped around it.
N
6 km
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 24 × 24 km, north up. The line is the cut above. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Around the canyon.
- 1viewpoints within 5 kmLake Mead Viewpoint
- 1rafting, canoe, kayak or canyoning spots within 4 kmNelson's Landing
- 2car parks within 3 km
- 1information boards and visitor centres within 4 km
- marked hiking routes within 4 km
- via ferrata routes within 4 km
- climbing crags within 3 km
- footbridges and suspension bridges within 3 km
- swimming spots within 3 km
- named waterfalls within 4 km
- caves within 3 km
- bus stops within 2 km
- campsites within 8 km
- hotels and guesthouses within 8 km
- restaurants and cafés within 4 km
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, around the floor of the canyon. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet. © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
In our other atlases
What else is around El Dorado Canyon.
The river that carved it, the waterfalls inside it, the mountains on the rim, the lakes, beaches and island nearby — from our six sister atlases, each with its own figures.
Peakyas7 mountains within 15 kmFigures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, NOAA, OpenStreetMap). Links open when each site is online.
Month by month
The weather, at the floor and at the rim.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon · floor | 17 | 19 | 24 | 29 | 35 | 42 | 43 | 42 | 38 | 30 | 23 | 16 |
| Afternoon · rim | 12 | 14 | 20 | 24 | 30 | 36 | 38 | 37 | 33 | 25 | 18 | 11 |
| Night · rim | 0 | 2 | 5 | 8 | 14 | 20 | 24 | 23 | 19 | 11 | 5 | 0 |
| Rain (mm) | 20 | 25 | 13 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 19 | 19 | 10 | 13 | 14 | 18 |
| Rainy days | 4 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| Sun hours/day | 7.6 | 8.5 | 10.2 | 11.8 | 13.2 | 14.3 | 12.1 | 11.7 | 11.2 | 9.8 | 8.4 | 7.0 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Afternoon · floor | Afternoon · rim | Night · rim | Rain (mm) | Sun hours/day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 17 | 12 | 0 | 20 | 7.6 |
| Feb | 19 | 14 | 2 | 25 | 8.5 |
| Mar | 24 | 20 | 5 | 13 | 10.2 |
| Apr | 29 | 24 | 8 | 9 | 11.8 |
| May | 35 | 30 | 14 | 3 | 13.2 |
| Jun | 42 | 36 | 20 | 1 | 14.3 |
| Jul | 43 | 38 | 24 | 19 | 12.1 |
| Aug | 42 | 37 | 23 | 19 | 11.7 |
| Sep | 38 | 33 | 19 | 10 | 11.2 |
| Oct | 30 | 25 | 11 | 13 | 9.8 |
| Nov | 23 | 18 | 5 | 14 | 8.4 |
| Dec | 16 | 11 | 0 | 18 | 7.0 |
Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the floor (194 m) and the rim (966 m) with the standard lapse rate. Not a forecast.
Photographs
Seen from the trail.
Recent years
Wet years, dry years.
Rain of each month as a share of the 1991–2020 average. A dry year means a lower river and hotter rock; a wet one, more water in the gorge.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 2% | 42% | 442% | 171% | — | — | 2% | 21% | 0% | 0% | 13% | 2% |
| 2021 | 60% | 8% | 52% | 6% | — | — | 123% | 61% | 56% | 83% | 0% | 219% |
| 2022 | 23% | 2% | 38% | 19% | — | — | 212% | 224% | 150% | 33% | 133% | 46% |
| 2023 | 246% | 38% | 255% | 0% | — | — | 2% | 260% | 259% | 15% | 30% | 10% |
| 2024 | 69% | 167% | 260% | 100% | — | — | 34% | 24% | 31% | 0% | 7% | 2% |
| 2025 | 5% | 71% | 65% | 19% | — | — | 30% | 71% | 350% | 93% | 387% | 123% |
130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month
Compare with the neighbours.
El Dorado Canyon
United States
- 755 mDepth
- 22 kmRim to rim
- —Length
- 22°Steepest wall
Black Canyon of the Colorado
United States · 13 km
- 632 mDepth
- 7.5 kmRim to rim
- —Length
- 34°Steepest wall
Grand Canyon
United States · 235 km
- 1,413 mDepth
- 11 kmRim to rim
- 446 kmLength
- 56°Steepest wall
Where these figures come from
| Name, type, published depth and length | Wikidata (Q5351174) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| The cut: depth, width, wall and 3D model | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| River flow and basin | HydroATLAS / RiverATLAS v1.0 (Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate | NASA POWER, 1991–2020 |
| Viewpoints, trails, bridges and the river line | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Rivers, waterfalls, mountains, lakes, beaches and islands nearby | Coastya, Lakeyas, Peakyas, Cascadyas, Islandyas, Riveryas |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
The family
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