United States Canyon
McKittrick Canyon
182 m of rock, cut by the McKittrick Canyon.
Fredlyfish4 · CC BY-SA 4.0
The cut
182 metres, to scale.
A slice through McKittrick 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.
182m
Depth
measured on the 30 m relief model
17.8km
Rim to rim
measured on the 30 m relief model
30°
Steepest wall
average over 300 m, from the relief
1,471m
Floor altitude
Rim to floor
2 °C warmer at the bottom.
In June the afternoon reaches 34 °C on the floor, against 32 °C on the rim. The best months to hike are from March to April and in October. The rim freezes at night from December to February. The wettest months are from July to September.
- 11°9°Jan
- 14°12°Feb
- 20°18°Mar
- 24°22°Apr
- 29°27°May
- 34°32°Jun
- 33°31°Jul
- 32°30°Aug
- 28°26°Sep
- 23°21°Oct
- 17°14°Nov
- 11°9°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 in Eddy County, New Mexico and Culberson County, Texas in the United States
McKittrick Canyon is a canyon in United States, cut by the McKittrick Canyon river. The relief model measures 182 m from the floor to the lower rim, and 326 m to the higher one. Rim to rim it is 18 km wide where the cut was taken. It lies within Guadalupe Mountains National Park.
Getting there.
- Parking 2,710 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Cavern City Air Terminal (CNM)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 61 km in a straight lineCar hire at ROW airport (Roswell)Discover Cars · sponsored link↗
- From March to April 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.
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.
- 2car parks within 3 km
- 1information boards and visitor centres within 4 km
- 3campsites within 8 kmMcKittrick Ridge Wilderness Campground, Dog Canyon Campground, Wilderness Ridge Wilderness Campground
- 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
- bus stops within 2 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 McKittrick 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.
Peakyas6 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 | 11 | 14 | 20 | 24 | 29 | 34 | 33 | 32 | 28 | 23 | 17 | 11 |
| Afternoon · rim | 9 | 12 | 18 | 22 | 27 | 32 | 31 | 30 | 26 | 21 | 14 | 9 |
| Night · rim | -4 | -3 | 2 | 6 | 11 | 16 | 18 | 17 | 13 | 7 | 0 | -4 |
| Rain (mm) | 10 | 11 | 13 | 12 | 17 | 28 | 66 | 58 | 63 | 28 | 13 | 12 |
| Rainy days | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 8 | 12 | 12 | 9 | 6 | 3 | 4 |
| Sun hours/day | 8.0 | 8.7 | 9.8 | 11.5 | 11.9 | 12.2 | 10.9 | 10.2 | 9.4 | 9.0 | 8.1 | 7.4 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Afternoon · floor | Afternoon · rim | Night · rim | Rain (mm) | Sun hours/day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 11 | 9 | -4 | 10 | 8.0 |
| Feb | 14 | 12 | -3 | 11 | 8.7 |
| Mar | 20 | 18 | 2 | 13 | 9.8 |
| Apr | 24 | 22 | 6 | 12 | 11.5 |
| May | 29 | 27 | 11 | 17 | 11.9 |
| Jun | 34 | 32 | 16 | 28 | 12.2 |
| Jul | 33 | 31 | 18 | 66 | 10.9 |
| Aug | 32 | 30 | 17 | 58 | 10.2 |
| Sep | 28 | 26 | 13 | 63 | 9.4 |
| Oct | 23 | 21 | 7 | 28 | 9.0 |
| Nov | 17 | 14 | 0 | 13 | 8.1 |
| Dec | 11 | 9 | -4 | 12 | 7.4 |
Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the floor (1,471 m) and the rim (1,797 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 | 79% | 95% | 457% | 0% | 26% | 54% | 54% | 32% | 26% | 10% | 11% | 24% |
| 2021 | 57% | 50% | 9% | 141% | 109% | 312% | 81% | 240% | 35% | 3% | 34% | 108% |
| 2022 | 9% | 37% | 44% | 0% | 0% | 194% | 35% | 223% | 49% | 156% | 70% | 37% |
| 2023 | 82% | 55% | 9% | 0% | 89% | 29% | 28% | 97% | 34% | 49% | 89% | 43% |
| 2024 | 79% | 118% | 44% | 31% | 7% | 77% | 71% | 60% | 34% | 27% | 143% | 3% |
| 2025 | 34% | 0% | 12% | 200% | 94% | 294% | 102% | 73% | 76% | 58% | 55% | 22% |
130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month
Compare with the neighbours.
McKittrick Canyon
United States
- 182 mDepth
- 18 kmRim to rim
- —Length
- 30°Steepest wall
Boquillas Canyon
United States · 353 km
- 334 mDepth
- 2.5 kmRim to rim
- —Length
- 33°Steepest wall
Where these figures come from
| Name, type, published depth and length | Wikidata (Q14711036) · 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
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