Pajarito Canyon
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| | Difficulty:3A II (v3a1 II) Raps:4, max ↨120ft
Red Tape:No permit required Shuttle: Vehicle:Passenger | |||
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| Condition Reports: | 14 Sep 2025
"Anchor at the top of the “two rap option” appears to have hangers removed. There is a two bolt anchor just over the edge there or multiple natural |
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35.8126, -106.1995
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Waterflow
Introduction[edit]
An excellent canyon with excellent views.
Pajarito Gorge is a nice, short canyon with some very fun rappels. It is near the White Rock, NM climbing crag named The New New Place. There is another crag that is part of the upper band of the gorge called Pajarito Gorge. The New New Place is more frequently used.
This is a fun canyon that can be done in 2, 3, or 4 rappels. This canyon is normally rated 3AII. Occasionally there is enough water in it to give it a “B” rating. During the Monsoonal rains of September 2013 water was flying through this canyon and it would have been unsafe to be in the canyon during that flow.
If done in 2 rappels, the longest rappel is the first at ~270’, and the rope can be left to retrieve when you are done. The other rappel is ~70’. If done in 3 or 4 rappels the longest rappel is ~120. As of 10/25/2024, a 120' Imlay canyon fire was not long enough for the 120' rappel - we needed a 150'. It was about 10’ short-we re-measured the rope and were getting ~125’-would bring a 150’ just in case.
Getting to Pajarito Gorge is very easy and all on paved roads. Find the intersection of NM Hwy 4 and Rover Blvd in White Rock, NM. Turn south onto Rover Blvd. and go ~1.2 miles. The road will bend east at ~1 mile. Shortly you will come to Kimberly Ln. Turn right (south) onto Kimberly Ln. and go ~0.3 miles until it dead ends in a cul-de-sac. The GPS coordinate is N35.81256 W106.19946.
Approach[edit]
Head west ~0.1 miles to the east rim of the gorge. You’ll need to decide if you are going to do this canyon in 2, 3, or 4 rappels. The starting point is slightly different for each descent path. Please be respectful of the neighborhood/houses nearby so as not to jeopardize access to this canyon.
Descent[edit]
Descent Path 1 (2 Rap option): Rappel 1: a ~270' entry rappel at N35.81146 W106.19948
Rappel 2: either a ~70' rappel in the water flow at N35.81106 W106.19943, or a ~110' rappel from a small tree on far canyon left. The tree potentially looks to be a difficult pull - the 70ft waterflow option is straightforward into a small grotto that may have water dripping on you.
Descent Path 2 (3 Rap Option): Rappel 1: a ~110' entry rappel at N35.81174 W106.20002.
Rappel 2: a ~120' rappel at N35.81141 W106.19990 (this puts you in the same location as the entry rappel for Descent Path 1). The primary anchor is the bolted anchor on the RDC wall. This is a bit of an awkward start, may want to courtesy rig for beginners. Long chains help with the pull. **In 10/2024, a 120' rope was not long enough for this drop, though the original beta for this canyon calls for a 120' - a 150' was needed.
Rappel 3: either a ~70' rappel in the water flow at N35.81106 W106.19943, or a ~110' rappel from a small tree on far canyon left. The tree potentially looks to be a difficult pull - the 70ft waterflow option is straightforward into a small grotto that may have water dripping on you.
Descent Path 3 (4 Rap Option): Rappel 1: ~45’ rappel in the water flow at N35.81177 W106.20026 that will put you on a landing above a pothole that usually has water in it. You can stay up on the landing to LDC and down-climb on the far side of the pothole, and then rappel about 8’ more to arrive at the top of rappel 2. Or, you can swim the pothole, which may be cold, but is not very deep. **Note: the rock is EXTREMELY slick even when dry with approach shoes on - if you are used to UT sandstone, this will be shockingly slippery. It is like butter. A few nasty falls have taken place with people trying to downclimb on rope-the possibility to pendulum is there, which may knock you into the wall and the pothole. There is a crack/small pouroff that at first looks to be a good downclimb option - use extreme caution, strong downclimbing skills needed. There are not great feet or handholds, and it is smooth as glass. Occasionally there is a boulder LDC on the landing slung with webbing and a rope for a handline, be sure to check the integrity of the material and be conscious of the slickness of the rock, even with using a handline. The safest option for the first person down seems to be rappelling straight down into the potholes and walking over to either the next anchor or guideline anchor station.
The first person down can setup a guided rappel over the pothole. There is a bolted anchor on LDC installed for this purpose. The hangers are pointing back towards rappel 1. The hangers of the bolted anchor on RDC point down canyon and are there as rappel 2’s anchor. This is a short and fun guided rappel, good location to practice this.
Rappel 2: is ~55’ at N35.81154 W106.19996 and takes you to the same spot that the entry rappel for Descent Path 2 does. Pretty straightforward rappel.
Rappel 3: a ~120' rappel at N35.81141 W106.19990 (this puts you in the same location as the entry rappel for Descent Path 1). The primary anchor is the bolted anchor on the RDC wall. This is a bit of an awkward start, may want to courtesy rig for beginners to allow them to get on rope easier. Long chains help with the pull. **In 10/2024, a 120' rope was not long enough for this drop, though the original beta for this canyon calls for a 120' - a 150' was needed.
Rappel 4: either a ~70' rappel in the water flow at N35.81106 W106.19943, or a ~110' rappel from a small tree on far canyon left. The tree potentially looks to be a difficult pull - the 70ft waterflow option is straightforward into a small grotto that may have water dripping on you, very pretty! Good place to stop for a snack or lunch before the exit.
Exit[edit]
There are two exit paths out of the bottom of the canyon.
Exit Path 1: ~200 yards down the water flow at N35.81071 W106.19904, exit canyon left out onto the rock field over the downed tree branch at the exit. Cross the rock field, heading slightly uphill along the way to the exit chute at N35.81063 W106.19850. Stay to the right in the larger rocks for easier climbing. You'll come to an obvious dirt trail that switches back and forth a few times to put you at the chute crest at N35.81079 W106.19820. At the chute crest turn left (north) and go to the backside of the large boulder at the base of the cliff band at N35.81102 W106.19822. Go between the large boulder and the cliff base, turn right (east) and walk along the base of the cliff band for a short distance, maybe a few hundred yards to N35.81158 W106.19793. Scramble up this short, steep section to the north again to arrive at N35.81163 W106.19806. Use caution, as there is a lot of cactus and loose rock. A fall could cause an injury here. At the top of the scramble turn right (east) again and follow the base of this cliff band for a couple hundred yards to N35.81183 W106.19797. Looking up (north), the sheer cliffs to the right are the New New Place crag. In the distance to the left you will see is a white "Dead Guy" graffiti painted on the rock. Head towards the “Dead Guy” graffiti. Head towards N35.81179 W106.19822. Spread out on the way up. It's not super steep, but there are large, loose rocks along the way. Make your way uphill and to the left (west) towards what will become about a 6' small climb out onto flat ground. The final 6' climb out has nice handholds and foot spots and puts you at N35.81175 W106.19838. Once up, just take the short trail back to where you parked at the end of Kimberly Ln. This route is shorter, steeper, and does not have well-established trails, but it takes <20 min. to get out this way. This is the kml file on the Rope wiki map.
Exit Path 2: Continue further down the drainage until it starts to open up. It will be very brushy! Long pants recommended. Exit canyon right, heading west. Gaia GPS shows an unmaintained trail that allows for cutting over to Red Dot without going all the way down to the river- as of 10/2024, there were multiple cairns along this route. As long as you head west you will eventually intersect the Red Dot trail. When you do intersect the Red Dot trail it either goes south down to the Rio Grande or north uphill to exit the canyon into the Pajarito Acres neighborhood. Go north and exit out to Piedra Loop. Turn right and walk up to Mariposa Ct. Turn right onto Mariposa Ct. and go down to just before the last house. There's a trail on the west side of that house that goes east back to the gorge water flow at N35.81185 W106.20094. Go down into the water flow to N35.81210 W106.20068 and turn right (south) back to the first rappel area. Then head east out to where you parked at the end of Kimberly Ln. This route is longer and has some steep sections on the Red Dot Trail. It takes about 40 min. to get out this way, but is easy to follow.
Red tape[edit]
Beta sites[edit]
CanyoneeringNM.org : Pajarito Gorge