Metamorphic Canyon
10 boulder problems · sandstone (Wingate Sandstone) · 4,973 ft
What's here
V2 to V9, with no single grade dominating.
Counted from the 10 climbs here that carry a grade. Shown only where there are at least 5 of them — below that the shape is noise.
How well located
Crag only 10
No route here has its own point yet. The map pin is the crag. At the wall? Survey it: 30 seconds per route.
Rock, from the geologic map
Complex of gneisses and schists — metamorphic; intermediate; gneiss; schist. Proterozoic, about 2,500 to 1,000 million years old.
Gneisses and schists; intruded by silicic to intermediate igneous rocks.
This is the map unit under this crag's map point, read from the 1:100,000 sheet (Day and others, 1999, U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 99-0427). The point can be a few hundred metres from the rock, a cliff often stands on the line between two units, and at that scale a line on the map is about 100 m wide on the ground, so the wall itself may be the neighbouring unit. The rock named at the top of this page comes from the public geology of this area; this card is the map's answer. Every crag on this unit: Complex of gneisses and schists. Geology data: Macrostrat (CC BY 4.0), serving USGS and Colorado Geological Survey maps.
On the map since 1934
The USGS has mapped this ground since 1934. 17 historical sheets cover this crag's map point; the oldest is below.
USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection · Public domain · the record · placed by its coordinates
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Hidden as soon as you tell us, everywhere it appears, before anyone reviews it.
Public domain, U.S. Geological Survey. The sheet shows the ground as the survey found it then, which is why a trail or road you know may be missing. Every sheet over this point, 1934 to 1981: USGS topoView.
In print since 1877
1877 Geologic Map of Colorado (Hayden), high-resolution scan · F. V. Hayden; scan by the Colorado Geological Survey · 1877
Geological and geographical atlas of Colorado and portions of adjacent territory · F. V. Hayden, U.S. Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories · 1877
Free to read: public domain or government work. About Grand Junction Area as a whole, not this wall. More in the reading room.
From the archives
Photographs of this area held by the Library of Congress, oldest first. Every one carries the Library's own "no known restrictions on publication"; anything else is left out.
Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division · Public domain · the record · found by place name, not yet checked
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Hidden as soon as you tell us, everywhere it appears, before anyone reviews it.
Routes
Also within 3 km
- The Gypsies394 m · 7 routes · 5,455 ft
- Liberty Cap571 m · 16 routes · 5,545 ft
- Red Canyon1,378 m · 6 routes · 4,877 ft
- Water Tower Hill1,905 m · 17 boulder problems · 4,786 ft · South Camp
- Canyon Rim Drive2,088 m · 9 boulder problems · 4,866 ft · South Camp
- Terra Tower Buttress2,243 m · 9 routes · 5,913 ft
Straight line between the two crags' map points, each of which can be some way from its rock. For when this wall is full, or the sun has found it.
Photos from climbers
No photos here yet. If you're at the crag, yours would be the first.
Taken at the crag by climbers and published as they sent them. Each one's own location had to be within 0.5 km of this crag before we accepted it. See something that shouldn't be here? Use Report this photo under it and it's hidden at once. Anything else, write to us.
Conditions reported
Nothing reported recently.
Report what you see
Reports are dated and fade on their own: wet rock after 3 days, a bad bolt after a year. No names, no text.
Access & safety
The map point for this crag is on land managed by National Park Service (federal), in Colorado National Monument. It lies inside national monument.
Land manager from USGS PAD-US (public domain), read 2026-09-29. It is the manager of the crag's map point, which can be a long way from the wall. What you may do on the rock is the manager's to say, not ours.
Nobody has yet read National Park Service's own rules for this crag and written them down here, so treat the above as where you are, not as what you may do.
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