Venom Canyon

Venom is an ok short canyon and good in combination with another one of these short canyons in the area. With the car shuttle, Venom has a great approach and relatively quick trail return with great views of the Grand Junction valley. The rappels are mediocre with a few CNM awkward edge starts that seem typical of these canyons on the north side of the CNM sandstone formation. Venom is on the eastern side of Colorado National Monument (Parks Pass required).

Park at the Devil's Kitchen Picnic Area, which is open 7:30am-8pm or the Devil's Kitchen Trailhead across the street. Drive uphill from the Devil's Kitchen parking turn offs on Monument Road and drop a shuttle vehicle 3 miles up the switchbacks and through the tunnel to the top of the Monument. Park at (39.03319, -108.65056), which is the start of a flat, straight part of the road before the Cold Shivers pull out. Hike northeast along the ridge to the east of Columbus Canyon to the first rappel at (39.03811, -108.64662)

R1: 100' from a tree DCC over a two tier drop with some avoidable poison ivy at the bottom. It looks possible to walk off the landing tier DCR. R2: 55' from a tree DC 5' between R2 and R3 R3: 70' from a tree DCL with an awkward start and an awkward shelf to rappel past R4: 100' from a tree DCR R5: 100' from a tree DCL. A focused, but reasonable scree downclimb follows the rappel. It could be possible to continue rappelling with a longer rope. DC DCR to get back into the drainage. DC DCL to bypass the dryfall in the drainage Walk down a final low angle slab full of small potholes cutting through the hogback