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A Glimpse into Canyoneering in Ouray
By Eliza Bicknell
The San Juan Mountains are an extraordinary area to explore canyons and Ouray's canyons are a national treasure Canyoneering (aka canyoning), or the exploration of canyons, is taking off in Ouray. It’s more than just hiking down a canyon, it is a technical descent down a canyon and involves rappelling, rope work, technical climbing, down climbing, technical jumps and sometimes technical swims. The canyons in Ouray provide all of these exciting features and more. Ouray lies on US Route 550 (Main Street in town) south of Montrose and north of Durango in southwest Colorado. The canyoning season in Ouray varies from year to year, but averages August 1st through September. The season can be shorter or longer depending on how late the spring runoff completes or how early the autumn snows arrive. Just to give you a taste of what canyoneering is like in Ouray, here are two of the most enjoyable canyons to explore are: Blue Moon Canyon:
Blue Moon flows high in the San Juan mountains. The landscape is stark and surreal. The only colors are gray and green. The canyon has a reputation due to loose rock. In the words of one canyoneer: "this canyon bares its teeth at you!" The shot below was taken at the very end of the Inner Gorge, looking back at the short rappel of Blue Moon canyon. Depending on the anchors used throughout the canyon, this is the only waterfall where one must rappel through the water. This is near the elusive Blue Moon Tunnels. After this point the canyon opens for a long way until the Crystal Section. Cascade Creek:
Cascade is easily one of the best, and certainly classic, canyons of Colorado - if not the entire United States. It comes at a price - big rappels, up to 300 feet, and a significant amount of downclimbing. While hazardous, it holds a beauty and adventure mix that will tantalize all canyoners skilled enough to enter. The photo below shows the top of the final rappel - Cascade Falls. From here it is almost 300 feet to the ground. This rappel gives the canyon its "unofficial" name - the "Eiger of Ouray"... so named because, if they wish, tourists in the various restaurants and bars in Ouray can point their binoculars and telescopes towards the falls to watch the action, much like tourists in Kleine Scheidegg point telescopes towards climbers on the Eiger Nordwand. More canyons in Ouray can be found and details about how to get there, what to bring and what the canyons are like are all covered in a new guidebook written by a close friend of mine – Ouray Canyoning, by Michael Dalin, available at Amazon.com.
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Canyoneering Basics
 
Blue Moon
Cascade
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Wow... amazing journey with incredible photo, thank you.
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