Mexico Sealight · CC BY-SA 3.0
The cut
1,123 metres, to scale.
A slice through Cañón del Zopilote 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: Eiffel Tower · 330 m · Burj Khalifa · 828 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.
1,123m
Depth
measured on the 30 m relief model
19.1km
Rim to rim
measured on the 30 m relief model
32°
Steepest wall
average over 300 m, from the relief
558m
Floor altitude
Rim to floor
8 °C warmer at the bottom.
In April the afternoon reaches 39 °C on the floor, against 31 °C on the rim. The floor passes 35 °C from March to May: walk at dawn and carry water. The wettest months are from June to September.
- 32°24°Jan
- 34°26°Feb
- 37°29°Mar
- 39°31°Apr
- 37°30°May
- 33°26°Jun
- 32°24°Jul
- 31°24°Aug
- 30°23°Sep
- 31°23°Oct
- 31°23°Nov
- 31°24°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.
Cañón del Zopilote is a canyon in Mexico. The relief model measures 1,123 m from the floor to the lower rim. Rim to rim it is 19 km wide where the cut was taken.
Getting there.
- Xochipalanearest town · 8.2 km in a straight line
- General Juan N. Álvarez International Airport (ACA)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 122 km in a straight lineCar hire at ACA airport (Acapulco)Discover Cars · sponsored link↗
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 the river runs highest from July to September.
The the river carries about 9.3 m³/s on average here. It runs highest from July to September. It is lowest from November to May.
- 0.8 m³/sJan
- 0.8 m³/sFeb
- 0.8 m³/sMar
- 0.8 m³/sApr
- 3.1 m³/sMay
- 15 m³/sJun
- 22 m³/sJul
- 26 m³/sAug
- 27 m³/sSep
- 16 m³/sOct
- 5.9 m³/sNov
- 1.6 m³/sDec
From about 0.77 m³/s in the lowest month to 27 m³/s in the highest. Its basin above this point covers 1,122 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
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.
- viewpoints within 5 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
- rafting, canoe, kayak or canyoning spots within 4 km
- swimming spots within 3 km
- named waterfalls within 4 km
- caves within 3 km
- car parks within 3 km
- information boards and visitor centres within 4 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).
Towns nearby
- Xochipala8.2 km in a straight line
- Mezcala12 km in a straight line
- Axaxacualco12 km in a straight line
- Tlanipatla12 km in a straight line
- Huitziltepec13 km in a straight line
- Carrizalillo16 km in a straight line
- Xalitla18 km in a straight line
- San Agustín Oapan19 km in a straight line
In our other atlases
What else is around Cañón del Zopilote.
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.
Peakyas8 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 | 32 | 34 | 37 | 39 | 37 | 33 | 32 | 31 | 30 | 31 | 31 | 31 |
| Afternoon · rim | 24 | 26 | 29 | 31 | 30 | 26 | 24 | 24 | 23 | 23 | 23 | 24 |
| Night · rim | 9 | 10 | 12 | 14 | 15 | 15 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 13 | 10 | 9 |
| Rain (mm) | 7 | 7 | 7 | 10 | 69 | 193 | 201 | 214 | 212 | 84 | 20 | 3 |
| Rainy days | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 13 | 25 | 27 | 28 | 27 | 15 | 4 | 1 |
| Sun hours/day | 9.0 | 9.8 | 10.4 | 10.6 | 9.3 | 8.4 | 9.1 | 8.9 | 7.7 | 8.5 | 9.2 | 9.3 |
| Afternoon · floor | Afternoon · rim | Night · rim | Rain (mm) | Sun hours/day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 32 | 24 | 9 | 7 | 9.0 |
| Feb | 34 | 26 | 10 | 7 | 9.8 |
| Mar | 37 | 29 | 12 | 7 | 10.4 |
| Apr | 39 | 31 | 14 | 10 | 10.6 |
| May | 37 | 30 | 15 | 69 | 9.3 |
| Jun | 33 | 26 | 15 | 193 | 8.4 |
| Jul | 32 | 24 | 14 | 201 | 9.1 |
| Aug | 31 | 24 | 14 | 214 | 8.9 |
| Sep | 30 | 23 | 14 | 212 | 7.7 |
| Oct | 31 | 23 | 13 | 84 | 8.5 |
| Nov | 31 | 23 | 10 | 20 | 9.2 |
| Dec | 31 | 24 | 9 | 3 | 9.3 |
Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the floor (558 m) and the rim (1,728 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 | 50% | 27% | 39% | 94% | 34% | 84% | 83% | 96% | 103% | 46% | 18% | — |
| 2021 | 54% | 107% | 227% | 17% | 136% | 121% | 72% | 113% | 90% | 100% | 7% | — |
| 2022 | 105% | 11% | 23% | 186% | 74% | 100% | 91% | 97% | 122% | 80% | 43% | — |
| 2023 | 0% | 0% | 27% | 297% | 59% | 6% | 84% | 100% | 63% | 178% | 221% | — |
| 2024 | 8% | 151% | 0% | 6% | 22% | 49% | 123% | 91% | 161% | 92% | 42% | — |
| 2025 | 457% | 77% | 4% | 14% | 131% | 140% | 86% | 99% | 92% | 138% | 10% | — |
130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month
Compare with the neighbours.
Cañón del Zopilote
Mexico
- 1,123 mDepth
- 19 kmRim to rim
- —Length
- 32°Steepest wall
Where these figures come from
| Name, type, published depth and length | Wikidata (Q27767640) · 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
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.
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Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit 
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Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.You are here