United States Canyon
Left Hand Canyon
68 m of rock, cut by the Left Hand Creek.
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data), CC BY 4.0, with relief shading from Copernicus WorldDEM-30
The cut
68 metres, to scale.
A slice through Left Hand 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: Tower of Pisa · 56 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.
68m
Depth
measured on the 30 m relief model
6.6km
Rim to rim
measured on the 30 m relief model
17°
Steepest wall
average over 300 m, from the relief
1,635m
Floor altitude
Rim to floor
2 °C warmer at the bottom.
In July the afternoon reaches 33 °C on the floor, against 31 °C on the rim. The best months to hike are in May and in October. The rim freezes at night from November to March. The wettest months are from April to May and in July.
- 6°4°Jan
- 7°4°Feb
- 13°10°Mar
- 17°15°Apr
- 23°20°May
- 30°28°Jun
- 33°31°Jul
- 31°29°Aug
- 27°24°Sep
- 19°16°Oct
- 12°9°Nov
- 6°3°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.
Canyon near Boulder, Colorado
Left Hand Canyon is a canyon in United States, cut by the Left Hand Creek. The relief model measures 68 m from the floor to the lower rim, and 371 m to the higher one. Rim to rim it is 6.6 km wide where the cut was taken.
Getting there.
- Bouldernearest town · 11 km in a straight line
- Parking 220 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport (BJC)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 28 km in a straight lineCar hire at BJC airport (Denver)Discover Cars · sponsored link↗
- In May and in Octoberbest 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 Left Hand Creek runs highest from April to May.
The Left Hand Creek carries about 0.31 m³/s on average here. It runs highest from April to May, fed by melting snow. It is lowest from October to January.
- 0.2 m³/sJan
- 0.3 m³/sFeb
- 0.6 m³/sMar
- 0.9 m³/sApr
- 1.0 m³/sMay
- 0.7 m³/sJun
- 0.5 m³/sJul
- 0.4 m³/sAug
- 0.3 m³/sSep
- 0.2 m³/sOct
- 0.1 m³/sNov
- 0.1 m³/sDec
From about 0.11 m³/s in the lowest month to 1.0 m³/s in the highest. Its basin above this point covers 128 km².
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
4 km
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 14 × 14 km, north up. The line is the cut above. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Around the canyon.
- 1marked hiking routes within 4 kmBoulder Valley Ranch Trails
- 1footbridges and suspension bridges within 3 kmSchoolhouse Access
- 6car parks within 3 km
- 2information boards and visitor centres within 4 km
- 1hotels and guesthouses within 8 kmHoliday Inn Express Boulder
- 1restaurants and cafés within 4 km
- viewpoints within 5 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
- caves within 3 km
- bus stops within 2 km
- campsites within 8 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
- Boulder11 km in a straight line
- Niwot12 km in a straight line
- Gunbarrel13 km in a straight line
- Lyons13 km in a straight line
- Longmont18 km in a straight line
- Louisville21 km in a straight line
- Superior21 km in a straight line
- Lafayette23 km in a straight line
In our other atlases
What else is around Left Hand 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.
Peakyas38 mountains within 15 km
Lakeyas2 lakes within 15 kmComing soonFigures 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 | 6 | 7 | 13 | 17 | 23 | 30 | 33 | 31 | 27 | 19 | 12 | 6 |
| Afternoon · rim | 4 | 4 | 10 | 15 | 20 | 28 | 31 | 29 | 24 | 16 | 9 | 3 |
| Night · rim | -8 | -8 | -4 | -1 | 4 | 11 | 15 | 14 | 9 | 1 | -4 | -8 |
| Rain (mm) | 20 | 24 | 36 | 54 | 65 | 43 | 52 | 43 | 36 | 33 | 21 | 21 |
| Rainy days | 6 | 7 | 8 | 11 | 12 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 6 |
| Sun hours/day | 6.1 | 6.9 | 8.2 | 8.7 | 9.3 | 11.2 | 11.0 | 10.0 | 9.4 | 7.6 | 6.6 | 5.7 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 16 | 16 | 12 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 11 | 16 |
| Afternoon · floor | Afternoon · rim | Night · rim | Rain (mm) | Sun hours/day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 6 | 4 | -8 | 20 | 6.1 |
| Feb | 7 | 4 | -8 | 24 | 6.9 |
| Mar | 13 | 10 | -4 | 36 | 8.2 |
| Apr | 17 | 15 | -1 | 54 | 8.7 |
| May | 23 | 20 | 4 | 65 | 9.3 |
| Jun | 30 | 28 | 11 | 43 | 11.2 |
| Jul | 33 | 31 | 15 | 52 | 11.0 |
| Aug | 31 | 29 | 14 | 43 | 10.0 |
| Sep | 27 | 24 | 9 | 36 | 9.4 |
| Oct | 19 | 16 | 1 | 33 | 7.6 |
| Nov | 12 | 9 | -4 | 21 | 6.6 |
| Dec | 6 | 3 | -8 | 21 | 5.7 |
Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the floor (1,635 m) and the rim (2,006 m) with the standard lapse rate. Not a forecast.
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 | 54% | 167% | 124% | 74% | 62% | 86% | 54% | 42% | 68% | 44% | 100% | 90% |
| 2021 | 57% | 135% | 202% | 103% | 143% | 87% | 97% | 49% | 47% | 39% | 44% | 125% |
| 2022 | 146% | 95% | 98% | 26% | 119% | 41% | 107% | 111% | 75% | 45% | 113% | 174% |
| 2023 | 145% | 66% | 68% | 65% | 185% | 285% | 113% | 130% | 80% | 63% | 58% | 87% |
| 2024 | 110% | 160% | 163% | 122% | 42% | 52% | 56% | 109% | 78% | 23% | 239% | 50% |
| 2025 | 143% | 93% | 116% | 54% | 124% | 123% | 63% | 96% | 151% | 46% | 39% | 94% |
130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month
Compare with the neighbours.
Left Hand Canyon
United States
- 68 mDepth
- 6.6 kmRim to rim
- —Length
- 17°Steepest wall
Where these figures come from
| Name, type, published depth and length | Wikidata (Q18154398) · 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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