Red Velvet canyon is a technical descent into the beautiful Colorado river in Arizona.
The canyon is adjacent to Blue Velvet canyon.
Although it is not as narrow and scenic as its neighbor, Red Velvet offers more open and bigger views of the Colorado river than Blue Velvet.
The approach is the same as Blue Velvet but instead of entering Blue Velvet you will enter the drainage right before ( to the right of Blue Velvet)
The descent is straightforward and we found 5 raps up to 100 feet in length.
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We build Deadman anchors and at the time of this writing, we did not find any signs of prior visitation.
There is a great area to set up your packraft when you reach the river but if the river level has gone up, rappel to the tree and make your way right ( facing the river/ left facing the canyon)
There is also a chance to bypass the last rappel and enter the blue velvet beach.
also if you descend blue velvet and want another rap, you can head right and enter the last rappel for red velvet.
Lots of options.
Once at the river inflate your packraft don your PFD and head to AZ hot springs or down to cranes nest.
Please do not place any bolts in this canyon
They are not needed and there is plenty of anchorage building material
you can set up camp at AZ springs and loop a number of these canyons in a fun weekend of canyoneering.
enjoy!
