United States Canyon
Laguna Canyon
171 m of rock, cut by the Laguna Canyon Creek.
Kevin.Daniels · CC BY 3.0
The cut
171 metres, to scale.
A slice through Laguna 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
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.
171m
Depth
measured on the 30 m relief model
8.0km
Rim to rim
measured on the 30 m relief model
26°
Steepest wall
average over 300 m, from the relief
6m
Floor altitude
Rim to floor
Afternoons, up top and down below.
In August the afternoon reaches 30 °C. The best months to hike are from March to April and from November to January. The wettest months are from December to February.
- 19°18°Jan
- 19°18°Feb
- 21°19°Mar
- 22°20°Apr
- 23°22°May
- 26°24°Jun
- 29°28°Jul
- 30°28°Aug
- 29°28°Sep
- 26°24°Oct
- 23°21°Nov
- 19°17°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.
Landform
Laguna Canyon is a canyon in United States, cut by the Laguna Canyon Creek. The relief model measures 171 m from the floor to the lower rim, and 249 m to the higher one. Rim to rim it is 8.0 km wide where the cut was taken.
Getting there.
- Laguna Beachnearest town · 3.0 km in a straight line
- Parking 270 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Viewpointsnearest viewpoint · 0.2 km from the floor
- John Wayne Orange County International Airport (SNA)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 16 km in a straight lineCar hire at SNA airport (Santa Ana)Discover Cars · sponsored link↗
- From March to April and from November to Januarybest 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.
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
4 km
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 18 × 18 km, north up. The line is the cut above. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Around the canyon.
- 21viewpoints within 5 kmTop of the World, Joseph R. Sweany Bench and 19 more
- 17footbridges and suspension bridges within 3 kmWood Creek Trail, Emerald Canyon Road, Meadows Trail and 14 more
- 3caves within 3 km
- 91car parks within 3 km
- 31information boards and visitor centres within 4 km
- 14bus stops within 2 km
- 4campsites within 8 kmDeer Canyon Campground, Upper Moro Campground, Lower Moro Campground and 1 more
- 41hotels and guesthouses within 8 kmLaguna Beach Motor Inn, The Ranch at Laguna Beach, ev and 38 more
- 73restaurants and cafés within 4 km
- marked hiking routes within 4 km
- via ferrata routes within 4 km
- climbing crags within 3 km
- rafting, canoe, kayak or canyoning spots within 4 km
- swimming spots within 3 km
- named waterfalls 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).
Towns nearby
- Laguna Beach3.0 km in a straight line
- Aliso Viejo3.6 km in a straight line
- Laguna Woods6.3 km in a straight line
- Laguna Hills7.2 km in a straight line
- Laguna Niguel7.2 km in a straight line
- San Joaquin Hills8.4 km in a straight line
- Mission Viejo9.5 km in a straight line
- Turtle Rock9.6 km in a straight line
In our other atlases
What else is around Laguna 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.
Figures 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 | 19 | 19 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 26 | 29 | 30 | 29 | 26 | 23 | 19 |
| Afternoon · rim | 18 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 22 | 24 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 24 | 21 | 17 |
| Night · rim | 9 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 14 | 17 | 18 | 17 | 15 | 12 | 9 |
| Rain (mm) | 57 | 68 | 32 | 20 | 8 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 16 | 26 | 60 |
| Rainy days | 7 | 8 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| Sun hours/day | 7.1 | 7.8 | 9.0 | 10.1 | 10.3 | 11.0 | 11.4 | 11.4 | 10.2 | 8.6 | 7.7 | 6.7 |
| Afternoon · floor | Afternoon · rim | Night · rim | Rain (mm) | Sun hours/day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 19 | 18 | 9 | 57 | 7.1 |
| Feb | 19 | 18 | 9 | 68 | 7.8 |
| Mar | 21 | 19 | 10 | 32 | 9.0 |
| Apr | 22 | 20 | 11 | 20 | 10.1 |
| May | 23 | 22 | 12 | 8 | 10.3 |
| Jun | 26 | 24 | 14 | 1 | 11.0 |
| Jul | 29 | 28 | 17 | 4 | 11.4 |
| Aug | 30 | 28 | 18 | 3 | 11.4 |
| Sep | 29 | 28 | 17 | 4 | 10.2 |
| Oct | 26 | 24 | 15 | 16 | 8.6 |
| Nov | 23 | 21 | 12 | 26 | 7.7 |
| Dec | 19 | 17 | 9 | 60 | 6.7 |
Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the floor (6 m) and the rim (255 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 | 14% | 17% | 330% | 485% | 24% | — | — | — | — | 5% | 45% | 47% |
| 2021 | 80% | 3% | 116% | 12% | 15% | — | — | — | — | 121% | 0% | 228% |
| 2022 | 5% | 15% | 104% | 29% | 4% | — | — | — | — | 62% | 188% | 106% |
| 2023 | 287% | 119% | 523% | 11% | 171% | — | — | — | — | 7% | 78% | 57% |
| 2024 | 100% | 301% | 274% | 70% | 40% | — | — | — | — | 4% | 12% | 2% |
| 2025 | 25% | 97% | 209% | 27% | 79% | — | — | — | — | 117% | 369% | 108% |
130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month
Compare with the neighbours.
Where these figures come from
| Name, type, published depth and length | Wikidata (Q981020) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| The cut: depth, width, wall and 3D model | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| 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
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.



