Chasm Canyon

Chasm Canyon is a technical canyon located in the Colorado National Monument. It features beautiful narrows (some of the longest in Colorado National Monument), a 205ft mostly free hanging final rappel, and a scenic exit through an infrequently visited section of Monument Canyon.

Chasm Canyon requires a 2.6 mile shuttle that can easily be done by bike. The exit vehicle will need to be parked at Upper Monument trail head, and the second vehicle at Upper Liberty Cap trailhead. From the Upper Liberty Cap trail head, follow the park service trail for approximately 1.5 miles to where the trail takes a sharp turn to the south. Instead of following the hiking trail south, head directly north. Within a few minutes you will come to a drainage, this is the beginning of Chasm. approximately .5 miles from where you exit the main trail you'll come to the first rappel.

Chasm's first rappel is 55ft off a tree on canyon right. This rappel can be rigged using a retrievable anchor or downclimbed with teamwork. The first rappel is onto a bench of a multi-benched slot that can sometimes hold knee deep water in a pool at the bottom. After the first few feet on rope, the potential for fairly easy bridging and stemming down climbing exists down two more benches of about 15ft each but should be evaluated independently by the party. Caution is advised due to the narrow nature of the top of the slot and the possibility for the rope getting stuck on the pull if you use the rope to rappel all the way to the bottom. The possibility of using a human anchor on the first bench is possible. After the first rappel, continue down canyon for approximately .5 miles to the second rappel. Chasm's second rappel is a 205ft mostly freehang. Make sure you know your rope’s actual length. There are many anchor options. An anchor can be rigged from a large boulder on down canyon right. To locate the anchor for the second rappel, you must leave the drainage and traverse the cliff edge on canyon right, within a few feet you'll locate the boulder. Directly in front of the boulder is a dead pinyon pine. This pine was used as an anchor on the first known descent of the canyon in September of 2018, but on a return trip through the canyon in October of 2019, the Pinyon was found to be dead and ruled out as an anchor. This concludes the technical part of the canyon.