United States Canyon

Red Canyon

244 m from rim to floor.

The cut

244 metres, to scale.

A slice through Red 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.

244m

Depth

measured on the 30 m relief model

15.4km

Rim to rim

measured on the 30 m relief model

15°

Steepest wall

average over 300 m, from the relief

1,679m

Floor altitude

Rim to floor

3 °C warmer at the bottom.

In July the afternoon reaches 32 °C on the floor, against 29 °C on the rim. The best months to hike are in May and in September. The rim freezes at night from November to April. The wettest months are from April to May.

rim · 2,108 mfloor · 1,679 m

2°-1°Jan
3°0°Feb
8°6°Mar
13°10°Apr
19°16°May
27°24°Jun
32°29°Jul
30°27°Aug
24°21°Sep
15°12°Oct
7°4°Nov
1°-1°Dec

Hike: May, SepFrost on the rim: Nov–AprWettest: Apr–May

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 located in Fremont County, Wyoming, United States

Red Canyon is a canyon in United States. The relief model measures 244 m from the floor to the lower rim, and 429 m to the higher one. Rim to rim it is 15 km wide where the cut was taken.

Getting there.

Landernearest town · 19 km in a straight line
Parking 700 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
Central Wyoming Regional Airport (RIW)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 46 km in a straight lineCar hire in RivertonDiscover Cars · sponsored link
In May and in Septemberbest months to hike (estimate)

Plan the visit

Guided hikes, a bed nearby, a car.

Car hire in RivertonDiscover CarsSee prices

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 in May.

The the river carries about 1.1 m³/s on average here. It runs highest in May, fed by melting snow. It is lowest from August to January.

0.8 m³/sJan
1.5 m³/sFeb
2.7 m³/sMar
3.5 m³/sApr
4.7 m³/sMay
3.1 m³/sJun
1.3 m³/sJul
0.5 m³/sAug
0.7 m³/sSep
0.7 m³/sOct
0.3 m³/sNov
0.6 m³/sDec

From about 0.32 m³/s in the lowest month to 4.7 m³/s in the highest. Its basin above this point covers 337 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

ParkingToilets

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.

4car parks within 3 km

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
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

Lander19 km in a straight line

In our other atlases

What else is around Red 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.

Peakyas7 mountains within 15 km

Weiser Knoll · 6.0 kmCommissary Hill · 9.8 kmTable Mountain · 9.9 kmYoung Mountain · 10 kmCottonwood Divide · 14 kmLimestone Mountain · 15 kmMexican Joe Hill · 15 km

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	2	3	8	13	19	27	32	30	24	15	7	1
Afternoon · rim	-1	0	6	10	16	24	29	27	21	12	4	-1
Night · rim	-12	-11	-6	-3	2	8	13	12	6	-1	-6	-11
Rain (mm)	17	22	31	41	57	27	18	18	27	28	19	21
Rainy days	5	6	7	10	11	7	5	5	6	7	6	5
Sun hours/day	6.3	7.4	7.8	8.9	10.1	12.5	12.2	11.1	9.9	7.8	6.5	5.3
Snow on the ground (cm)	18	18	15	12	6	1	0	0	2	8	15	18

	Afternoon · floor	Afternoon · rim	Night · rim	Rain (mm)	Sun hours/day
Jan	2	-1	-12	17	6.3
Feb	3	0	-11	22	7.4
Mar	8	6	-6	31	7.8
Apr	13	10	-3	41	8.9
May	19	16	2	57	10.1
Jun	27	24	8	27	12.5
Jul	32	29	13	18	12.2
Aug	30	27	12	18	11.1
Sep	24	21	6	27	9.9
Oct	15	12	-1	28	7.8
Nov	7	4	-6	19	6.5
Dec	1	-1	-11	21	5.3

Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the floor (1,679 m) and the rim (2,108 m) with the standard lapse rate. Not a forecast.

Photographs

Seen from the trail.

Red Canyon Road and Rim — Bernd Thaller from Graz, Austria · CC BY 2.0

Sandstone road tunnel on Utah State Route 12, Red Canyon, Utah — Christian David · CC BY-SA 4.0

Littl Popo Agie River — Chiffre01 · CC BY-SA 4.0

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	93%	92%	90%	96%	22%	137%	69%	23%	60%	29%	106%	72%
2021	69%	87%	181%	93%	82%	65%	132%	176%	79%	224%	35%	103%
2022	95%	35%	72%	85%	120%	33%	240%	146%	135%	47%	143%	161%
2023	216%	72%	65%	113%	49%	347%	129%	190%	111%	149%	129%	46%
2024	67%	135%	118%	61%	74%	45%	91%	112%	47%	97%	57%	46%
2025	80%	85%	171%	105%	71%	84%	110%	146%	96%	113%	56%	126%

130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month

Compare with the neighbours.

Red Canyon

United States

244 mDepth
15 kmRim to rim
—Length
15°Steepest wall

Wind River Canyon

United States · 102 km

389 mDepth
3.5 kmRim to rim
—Length
32°Steepest wall

See the guide

Devil's Gate

United States · 123 km

368 mDepth
14 kmRim to rim
—Length
24°Steepest wall

See the guide

Waterfalls Canyon

United States · 150 km

822 mDepth
16 kmRim to rim
—Length
46°Steepest wall

See the guide

Where these figures come from

Name, type, published depth and length	Wikidata (Q1246593) · 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