Highest drop 40m
Public access
7hrs
A fantastic, open granite canyon with big waterfalls and big pools. Jumps galore into west coast coca-cola coloured pools.
Download the CanyonTopo for Red Granite Creek
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Amazing canyon.
Make sure you check every pool before jumping as there are big rocks that are invisible due to the colourof the water.
Beautiful canyon, loved especially the upper canyon and jumps. Well marked track in.
We replaced tape at all anchors.
Suggest bleeding ropes on ALL drops as the rock is coarse.
An amazing day out, and well worth an early start to get finished early afternoon.
Water levels were normal, and water was warm.
Cheers to a great crew at the NZ Canyoning Festival 2026.
Bring longer ropes than the topo recommends.
Track in is very clear up until the final drop in. We found the gully into the final drop to be a decent down climb but keep your head in navigation mode.
As others have said, the traverse is far longer than the 20m listed. I would estimate 35-40m. 2×60 would be recommended. We took 2×60 + a 40m
Jumps were awesome! All around fantastic day
All anchors in mint condition.
R9 is definitely 35m, not 20m. One or two others are on the longer side of what the topo says.
Road in was just about navigable in a 2WD.
The walk in alone deserves three stars for how well marked and cut it is!
What an amazing canyon. Lots of time spent on the jumps and enjoying the scenery.
Couple of notes: There are a couple areas where the TR and TL are mixed up, so if you can’t find the bolts, look on the other side, it’s still pretty obvious.
The 3m slide has an approx. 10m DC down next to a low angled waterfall before it.
R9 is significantly longer than 20m, we had to tie an additional rope at the end of a 60m, so I’m guessing it’s around a 35m rappel.
R10 jumping ledge is no longer there, instead its a pretty steep angled and sharp lip that you need to abseil over – watch your rope on this.
Apart from this, all of the jumps were in good condition and we had a blast! Highly recommend this one.
Awesome canyon. The track is now very well marked with pink markers until dropping down from the high point, where we lost the route a bit. It’s much easier access now than a few years ago.
No problems with anchors, but be aware R9 is slightly longer than 30m – even with a 60m rope you’ll want to tie on another rope or pull cord. A few loose rocks fell off on R10, and there is a bit of an edge, so worth being careful here.
24 November 2023
4pax. Expecting to be a slower than guide group
Water up a little in comparison to Topo
3/5h/.5
Approach:2.5h plus 1/2hour lunch
Canyon: 5h
Walk out .5h
Total time car to car 8.5h
If you pick the right spot river is about knee deep.
Take a tub and soap to the base of the canyon to didymium wash boots/feet in before climb up hill, collect it on the way out.
Changed most webbing
Anchor stations good in all locations
New bolted line TR on R7 for inflow abseil.
R10 anchor is quite condensed if you only have 2x40m ropes, as R9 will require both of those aprox 30m. R10 it is a hanging/standing on ledge anchor station larger groups should bring an extra at least 20m rope use as an extension to pull down for R9 or abseil line begin sending people down R10 to not create a traffic jam.
There may be some confusion between TL and TR anchors in this canyon. Either we can’t read a Topo (which is likely) or some anchors are on the opposite side to where the Topo lists them.Still easy to find,
Spectacular change in geology between Mikonui river and Red Granite creek
Super playful canyoning, jumps and spots to climb around and jump again. Heaps of fun to effort ratio. Being mostly north facing it was warm too! 5stars
All ready to go for the summer, get in there!!
R5 no longer has bolts – big flood/rockslide looks like they have taken them out. It is still a very active looking slip so don’t linger in the pool below!
There is a big boulder we used as an anchor instead to check the pool. Someone used a nut before us. The 12m jump was technical with massive boulders filling the pool below.
All other anchors in good condition!
Beware the sharp rocks – have core shot two ropes in this canyon now. ):
Done after a week of no rain and was pretty low flow. All anchors were good. The R9/R10 sequence is straightforward but R9 seems longer than 20m (maybe 30m) so be ready to let rope out.