Australia Canyon
Murchison River Gorge
169 m of rock, cut by the Murchison River.
Julien Carnot · CC BY-SA 2.0
The cut
169 metres, to scale.
A slice through Murchison River Gorge 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.
169m
Depth
measured on the 30 m relief model
4.7km
Rim to rim
measured on the 30 m relief model
14°
Steepest wall
average over 300 m, from the relief
33m
Floor altitude
Rim to floor
Afternoons, up top and down below.
In February the afternoon reaches 36 °C. The best months to hike are from June to September. The floor passes 35 °C from January to February: walk at dawn and carry water. The wettest months are from June to July.
- 35°34°Jan
- 36°35°Feb
- 34°33°Mar
- 30°29°Apr
- 26°25°May
- 23°22°Jun
- 21°20°Jul
- 22°21°Aug
- 24°23°Sep
- 28°27°Oct
- 31°30°Nov
- 34°32°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.
Gorge in Western Australia
Murchison River Gorge is a canyon in Australia, cut by the Murchison River. The relief model measures 169 m from the floor to the lower rim. Rim to rim it is 4.7 km wide where the cut was taken.
Getting there.
- Viewpointsnearest viewpoint · 0.9 km from the floor
- Geraldton Airport (GET)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 137 km in a straight lineCar hire at GET airport (Moonyoonooka)Discover Cars · sponsored link↗
- From June to Septemberbest 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 Murchison River runs highest from July to August.
The Murchison River carries about 35 m³/s on average here. It runs highest from July to August. It is lowest from October to May.
- 12 m³/sJan
- 13 m³/sFeb
- 14 m³/sMar
- 15 m³/sApr
- 25 m³/sMay
- 55 m³/sJun
- 78 m³/sJul
- 74 m³/sAug
- 49 m³/sSep
- 26 m³/sOct
- 15 m³/sNov
- 11 m³/sDec
From about 11 m³/s in the lowest month to 78 m³/s in the highest. Its basin above this point covers 63,783 km².
Follow the Murchison 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
3 km
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 10 × 10 km, north up. The line is the cut above. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Around the canyon.
- 6viewpoints within 5 kmNature's Window, Kalbarri Skywalk Lookout and 4 more
- 2marked hiking routes within 4 kmKalbarri Skywalk, Loop Trail
- 2information boards and visitor centres within 4 km
- 1restaurants and cafés 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
- bus stops within 2 km
- campsites within 8 km
- hotels and guesthouses 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).
In our other atlases
What else is around Murchison River Gorge.
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.
Peakyas2 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 | 35 | 36 | 34 | 30 | 26 | 23 | 21 | 22 | 24 | 28 | 31 | 34 |
| Afternoon · rim | 34 | 35 | 33 | 29 | 25 | 22 | 20 | 21 | 23 | 27 | 30 | 32 |
| Night · rim | 19 | 20 | 19 | 17 | 14 | 11 | 10 | 10 | 11 | 13 | 15 | 17 |
| Rain (mm) | 16 | 17 | 16 | 16 | 33 | 58 | 55 | 35 | 23 | 11 | 8 | 10 |
| Rainy days | 2 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 9 | 9 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Sun hours/day | 12.0 | 11.1 | 10.4 | 9.1 | 8.2 | 7.4 | 7.7 | 8.7 | 10.1 | 11.4 | 12.1 | 12.7 |
| Afternoon · floor | Afternoon · rim | Night · rim | Rain (mm) | Sun hours/day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 35 | 34 | 19 | 16 | 12.0 |
| Feb | 36 | 35 | 20 | 17 | 11.1 |
| Mar | 34 | 33 | 19 | 16 | 10.4 |
| Apr | 30 | 29 | 17 | 16 | 9.1 |
| May | 26 | 25 | 14 | 33 | 8.2 |
| Jun | 23 | 22 | 11 | 58 | 7.4 |
| Jul | 21 | 20 | 10 | 55 | 7.7 |
| Aug | 22 | 21 | 10 | 35 | 8.7 |
| Sep | 24 | 23 | 11 | 23 | 10.1 |
| Oct | 28 | 27 | 13 | 11 | 11.4 |
| Nov | 31 | 30 | 15 | 8 | 12.1 |
| Dec | 34 | 32 | 17 | 10 | 12.7 |
Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the floor (33 m) and the rim (211 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 | 41% | 127% | 7% | 4% | 81% | 55% | 76% | 135% | 25% | 20% | 332% | 3% |
| 2021 | 0% | 180% | 12% | 161% | 210% | 98% | 115% | 44% | 36% | 175% | 4% | 19% |
| 2022 | 2% | 4% | 216% | 263% | 82% | 112% | 78% | 205% | 201% | 72% | 48% | 9% |
| 2023 | 2% | 2% | 10% | 28% | 127% | 60% | 74% | 59% | 34% | 0% | 36% | 0% |
| 2024 | 2% | 396% | 19% | 6% | 28% | 141% | 194% | 99% | 22% | 206% | 72% | 22% |
| 2025 | 4% | 5% | 12% | 15% | 71% | 98% | 101% | 170% | 88% | 43% | 120% | 16% |
130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month
Where these figures come from
| Name, type, published depth and length | Wikidata (Q17014631) · 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?
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islands
Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Visit 
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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