Tena and Heather in Weeping Springs Canyon, Nevada

Not a whole lot can beat a night of drinking and a early start into a technical canyon with a nice pack raft down the Colorado river. 

clint blowing me a kiss in Weeping Springs Canyon, Nevada

Headaches and dehydration plagued the team as we got up and headed over to the black canyon range after a quick breakfast coffee and Greece.

James in weeping Springs Canyon

 Once we got to the trail head,  James, Tena, Heather, Clint, and Paige prepare for a day down into one of the best canyons in the Black Canyon Range, Weeping springs Canyon. 

Heather, Tena, James, Clint, and Paige in Weeping Springs canyon

The Black Canyon range is about 45 minutes outside of Las Vegas and has some excellent igneous canyoneering with nice hot springs to visit along the way. 

James, Tena, Paige, and Heather about to scale around the drinking water in Weeping Springs Canyon, Nevada

There are a number of these canyons in the area but weeping Springs is right at the top of the list when it comes to Black Canyon routes!

negociating the potholes in Weeping Springs.

The best part of this canyon is that there is a nice 50ft free air drop, right into the Colorado river from a small cove with a waterfall that flows over the wall. 

Working around the anchor integrity.

We set out for the canyon as we dodge all the broken glass and rusty car parts on a somewhat steep hike down the ridge to the wash of weeping springs. 

The big drop.

Once we got into the wash it was easy walking to the first rap. 

leap frogging in weeping springs.

The following raps were pretty close to one another and had drops from 20ft up to 140ft in length.

preparing our rafts for the last drop.

We brought a 300ft rope that we were able to bouble, and we brought a few 70ft ropes, and a 90 ft rope. 

Heather Negotiating the lip to ensure the raft doesn't get a hole on the last rap in weeping springs.

We also replaced some webbing at a couple of the anchors due to the webbing decay from the sun.

Tena and Heather in weeping springs.

We work our way down the volcanic rock and pass by some corrosion residue left over from possible dormant springs on the walls and some small cavern like alcoves. 

Tena and Heather in weeping springs.

Eventually, we make it to a shelf that takes us down a series of down climbs and some bush whacking before we get to the main event, the last rap.  

Paige landing in her raft in weeping springs.

This was really interesting as we had a choice to drop from a free hanging 40-50ft rap or follow the waterfall down.  There was no beach at the bottom so everyone had to be prepared for the water landing. 

Heather successfully landing in her raft on rappel.

This meant that we all inflated our rafts at the top, donned our paddles, put our PFDs on, and hang our backpacks with the paddles and raft below us.

Clint Poole on the last rap.

The water was deep so there was very little room for error and I wanted to make sure that there was enough air in each raft or people would have concave rafts.  

Clint coming down the last rap in Weeping Spring.

Also they had to make sure that they actually rap into the raft, on rope, and paddle off to be out of the fall zone.  There was no beach and the water was pretty deep. 

Tena working her way down the canyon

Heather went first as she got over the edge and safely rappelled to the waterline and sat in her boat with her backpack.

working our way down

Everyone else followed suit as we all rapped from the top and successfully made it down the line.

Heather holding the canyon by its horns.

If someone were to fall in the water, they would have faced water temps in the low 50s and the challenge of getting back into their rafts. 

Pack rafting the Colorado river to Bighorn canyon

We all made it down without incident and safely pulled the rope.

Heather Pack rafting the Colorado river to Big Horn canyon

Next we set out for a 1/2 mile course to big horn canyon, which was our way out of the Colorado river. We enjoyed a nice paddle down the river except for Clint.

Tena Pack Rafting to big horn canyon.

Clint found out the hard way that his raft was slowly deflating and had to make it to shore as soon as possible before he foundered in the Colorado river, which he did in good time.


After about a half mile, we all made it to the shores of Big Horn canyon and headed up the non technical canyon to complete the loop and back to the cars in about 7 1/2 hours. Big horn canyon is a nice non technical route to the Colorado and worth a visit in itself.  There are some narrow corridors and a few hot spring falls spilling into the canyon. We had an excellent time in the Weeping spring Big Horn loop and that wraps up the Black Range for canyons for me.

The Trailhead for weeping springs and big horn canyon.