Beaver
Falls
beta facts:
name- Beaver Falls
height- 50’
elevation- 5050’
GPS coordinates- ±35°55.055’N 104°19.900’W
flow- intermittent
season- early spring or late summer rainy
season.
accommodations- none
ownership- public - State of New Mexico –
permit required (see story below)
access- a one mile difficult hike with no
trail (see story below)
nearest town- Roy is 9 miles east of here
fun fact- Mother Nature painted a painting
of a beaver upon a large white rock in this canyon.
essay bro:
Beaver Falls within Beaver Canyon is about
50’ high and is in the heart of two adjacent sections of land (#36 & #31)
that is owned by the state of New Mexico.
A special use permit for recreation is required to legally enter this
beautiful sand stone wonderland and other state owned lands. This permit can be purchased for $25 a
year from the New Mexico State Land Office at 310 Old Santa Fe Trail PO BOX 1148 Santa Fe, NM 87504.
The setting for this beautiful desert gem
is a “slickrock” type canyon about 4 miles long, that conflues with the
Canadian River, approximately one mile below the waterfall. This canyon’s lower 2 miles is the state
land mentioned above and is the deepest part of canyon with the most sheer rock
walls. This wild and pristine
scenic ravine parallels NM hwy 120 just east of the bridge over the Canadian
River between Wagon Mound and Roy, New Mexico. The best way to access it is to park along hwy 120. Be sure to display your special use
permit on your dashboard before hiking north, down into Beaver Canyon. I like to park just above where the
highway flattens out on top. See
the map below.
In wet years the flow from the spring above
the falls trickles on down the clean and wide “hard-pan” streambed and over the
falls as shown in the above photo.
In dry years, it does not.
THIS SMALL DRAINAGE MUST ROAR WITH KILLING FLOODWATERS DURING SUMMER
THUNDERSTORMS. SEEK HIGH GROUND
IMEDIATELY DURING ANY THUNDERSTORM….!!!!!!!
The most amazing phenomena of this area is
“THE BEAVER”. About a quarter-mile
above Beaver Falls, is a natural occurring, near-perfect image of a brown
beaver upon the large smooth surface of a light colored bolder. This image is approximately 4 feet wide
and appears just over head-high while hiking in the dry creek bed. Perhaps this is why the canyon is
called “Beaver”… Extending your hike below the falls for a mile will take you
mostly over very interesting, clean “slickrock” to the Canadian River, where
catfish swim.
“THE BEAVER”…is a natural occurring mosaic painting by Mother Nature. The confluence of Beaver Canyon and the Canadian River.
Spring water flows over clean
bedrock on its way down to the falls. Below
the falls the seeping creek bed drops into a sheer wall inner gorge.
Enhanced
National Geographic 7.5’ topo map
the
thin red lines above represent one
mile squares
Send questions and comments to doug.vivian@yahoo.com