My brothers and brother in law came down to my house in Fruita (Colorado) to do a little canyoneering. We chose to do the direct route through Devils Canyon. The canyon is only two miles from my house and is just west of Colorado National Monument and about 17 miles east of the Utah border on I-70.
The canyon is a nice little adventure in my backyard. The upper walls of the canyon are made of sheer Wingate Sandstone walls and there are many pinnacles in the canyon making it a scenic area. The lower end of the canyon cuts through granite, which makes this part of the Colorado Plateau unique (having Wingate walls on top of granite). The narrows of the canyon are in the granite. We hiked up canyon until we reached the granite falls. We then backtracked and followed the trail that bypasses the granite narrows and followed the Chinle bench at the base of the Wingate until we could easily drop into the bottom of the canyon. We followed the granite narrows down canyon. There were a few potholes to pass and some drops. The highest drop was only 15 feet, and we climbed up to a chockstone on the left and about 15 feet above the fall to set up a hand line. We didn’t use a rap here, but others might prefer to. The canyon is easy for a technical canyon, but technically the main attraction is the high quality granite for climbing. The granite is black and pink and is good and solid for rockclimbing. High quality granite is certainly a rare site on the Colorado Plateau. We did several rock climbs and messed around for a few hours before heading down canyon and exiting the granite narrows. It also woudn’t be too difficult to reverse the route if you have some climbing skills.
Devils Canyon is not an extreme technical canyoneering trip, but it is highly scenic and the red sandstone walls, pinnacles, and granite narrows make it a very scenic canyon. It’s also very easy to get to; only a couple miles from I-70. The rock climbing is really great too. And best of all, it’s within walking distance of my house.