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| Canyoneering | 3.85 Miles |
1,396 AEG |
| | Canyoneering | 3.85 Miles | 7 Hrs 29 Mns | | 0.64 mph |
| 1,396 ft AEG | 1 Hour 27 Mns Break | | | |
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| partners | | Insomnia
Joel was the only one in our party that had done Insomnia before. We decided to do a different sneak exit then he had done to mix it up a bit.
We loaded up our packs with 4 ropes: 300, 200, 150, and 120 ft. The intent was to be sure to still have rope if we stuck ropes on the big rappel. We wanted to be sure we could finish the canyon.
We bushwhacked down a drainage that was not part of the beta I had. We ended up doing two short rappels in that drainage before we hooked up to the main Insomnia drainage. The first rappel we rigged off a cairn anchor.
In the main drainage we tried to not put in our wetsuits. We went through a 56 degree pool and then decided that we really did need the wetsuits!
Next up was the garbage compactor pool from Star Wars. The smell was worse than a horrendous poop! We each enjoyed watching other people swim through it.
The canyon turned into a beautiful slot canyon. Fluted and sculptured in ways that you can’t imagine. This is why we canyoneer!
Soon we were at the top of the big drop. Tim was at the anchors first and was checking it. He checked the bolts and they were NOT good. The hanger on the left was spinning. The right bolt could almost be pulled out of the wall. I was thinking, ‘No way!’ But unfortunately at this point there isn’t any choice but to do the drop. We communicated back to Joel and Carl and they started looking for another anchor to back up the bolts. They found several options and went with a log. We passed up the longer strand of webbing and soon Joel had it rigged. Things were safer but still it was nerve-racking. I was to go first since I had my full ascending gear on. Gulp! I was happy to have my caving rack along. It handles long rappels by adding a lot of friction. It also doesn’t twist the rope, enabling a spin-free free-hang. I also attached my VT prusik above the rack so that I had an auto block. I looked at Carl, who put his hands in the shape of a heart which was really encouraging, and then I took off. I had to first place some rope protection to prevent the rope from being cut by the edge of the cliff. Then I was off. But not before taking a selfie! The first several feet was against the cliff but soon I was hanging free. As I rappelled a little bug decided to hang with me for a while, keeping pace. Then I saw a butterfly. I kept lowering myself at a steady pace. The full drop is 320 ft. Our rope was only 300 ft. The beta for the canyon mentioned a ledge but I had no idea if it was a tiny ledge or what. I could only hope that the numbers were right and I’d find it easily. Soon I was at a ledge! It was huge and easy to get off rappel safely. I was so jacked up on adrenaline that I jumped up and down and then sat next to the tree that would be our next anchor. I blew my whistle to indicate I was off rope and out of the way. Unfortunately when I got off rope, it swung away from me so Tim didn’t get a fireman’s belay. We are estimating that the drop was probably about 260 feet.
Soon the full crew was down and we continued on our way. Looking back at the full cliff was mind blowing. At the top you could see a keyhole like feature and then just a shear cliff.
We did a few more obstacles and then we were at the sneak exit. We took off our wetsuits and had our lunch. Lunch included some celebratory muffins I had made special for the trip. While baking a work call had come and the muffins spent a little too much time in the oven. I liked to refer to them as really brown. Luckily, the guys were game and ate them.
The climb out was reasonable for the four of us; for the most part it was a scramble up a drainage with all sizes of boulders. Towards the top it got chocked with bushes so we worked our way through locust and other shrubbery. Reaching the top was satisfying, we were done and safe. What a thrilling day! |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
It's that logic that opted us to sleep in our warm beds here in PHX and meet up at 5am and drive up there. Unfortunately it took longer than expected to get 5 canyoneers to the AB young TH 
and we weren't on top and dropping into the main east fork of Insomnia canyon until 11am. That's what I get for trying to cram too many things into our morning. 
The upper canyon had exploded with Falls colors and I slipped into Tibber-mode and took WAY too many photos of the amAZing colors. Eventually we reached the technical section and we put our game faces on and slipped on our gear. Since I was lugging my 400ft rope up the steep trail and didn't have much room left in my pack, I opted to only take my 3mm shorty since I'd need to beg someone else to take it. Judging by how cold the water was and that the canyon was wetter than last time, I knew I was in for a chilly day esp when I realized that my 5mm neo socks didn't seem to make my pack either. 
Most of the half dozen rappels in the upper narrows are short & sweet, but it was a nice touch to have the pools covered in fall leaves. 
Time flies when you're having fun and it was late afternoon by the time we reached the staging area for the big 320-375ft rappel. 
Did some jumping jacks to warm my cold fingers and arse back up, before proceeding out to the keyhole perch to setup for the BIG drop into the super scenic amphitheater. Some peeps like to rush down these big drops, but I prefer cruising down slow and in control while soaking in the amAZing views and whoo-hooing at the top of my lungs. 
Once down, I took photos and gave fireman's belays to others but even with a group of 5 it took almost 2 hours to get us all down. Roped pulled easily like usual from the solid bolts but we still had three more short rappels to go as dusk was setting in. 
Once down them all, we left the helmets on and put headlamps on for another hour of dark rock hopping to the confluence. We were glad that was over and didn't want to get cold & wet again so we rappelled into the confluence with Illusions canyon before dropping the rest of out gear once in West Fork. Well the worst of it was over but we still had to creek hike a half mile or so thru the dark Subway section before hitting another 3 miles of trail before reaching the highway. 
Thankfully, some faster hikers volunteered to run ahead to fetch the vehicle that was parked two miles down the highway and bring it back to the rest of us while we finished hiking out and sought refuge in the backrooms. 
This canyon is pretty much all about that HUGE super scenic 320ft rappel, one of the best & airiest in the state that I know of. It's def not for the faint of heart, yet Susan didn't have any problems getting a whole horde of canyoneers on board for this trip. 
