Red Velvet Canyon
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| | Difficulty:3A II (v3a1 II) Raps:5, max ↨100ft
Red Tape:No permit required Shuttle:None Vehicle:Passenger Watercraft:Yes | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Best season: | Oct-April
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35.9532, -114.7265
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Introduction[edit]
A pleasant and scenic short canyon with great views of the river from start to finish. Not as scenic and narrow as its nearby neighbor Blue Velvet, but a nice variety of short half day canyoneering. I would give this a 3.5 star rating but optimistically it gets a 4 star rating. For a great day I recommend going down Red velvet, back out Black Cat Canyon, down Blue Velvet canyon, than out AZ Hot Springs.
Approach[edit]
The approach is the same as Blue Velvet until you get over the ridge. Red Velvet is the drainage to the right of Blue Velvet.
Descent[edit]
The descent is a straight forward drop sequence of 5 rappels up to 100 ft. We didn't encounter any special challenges except for some slightly awkward overhung raps.
Exit[edit]
Inflate your pack raft on the slab rock shoreline of the river. Se had low conditions which made for an easy launch. We imagine if the water level is up, you would rappel to the thorn tree at the bottom of the rap, than traverse to the left ( facing the canyon / right facing the river) to a clearing of slab rock where multiple can set up their pack rafts. You can also bail on the last rappel and traverse over to Blue Velvet canyon to access a small beach to launch pack rafts.
Red tape[edit]
Do not add bolts to this canyon or any canyon in the Lake Mead NRA region. It is illegal and bolts are not needed. This particular canyon has enough anchor building material. bring webbing to replace as needed.
Do not enter this canyon if you do not have the knowledge to entirely inspect and replace anchorage. Do not assume anchorage is prepared to hold any load bearing weight upon your arrival. Bring anchorage replacement material and be prepared to replace all anchorage. This canyon floods and becomes hot. The sunbaked and worn webbing can break. Inspect and Replace all anchorage.
Beta sites[edit]
Trip reports and media[edit]
Background[edit]
No webbing was encountered in this canyon so we are assuming this canyon has not been visited. Why AKA Baby Maker? well, one of our completely out of control and esteemed team members appears to be on a mission to have a minimum of 8 children on this planet