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| Canyoneering | 9.10 Miles |
300 AEG |
| | Canyoneering | 9.10 Miles | | | |
| 300 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | Ah, Imlay! A long, intense and incredible day that I really don't even know how to describe! When I think of it, I want to dance a jig and curl up in fetal position all at the same time.  Imlay is one of the biggest and baddest canyons in Zion national park. We did the sneak route, which brought us in to the sweetest part of the canyon...with 27 rappels, two deep narrows sections containing keeper potholes, lots of tricky downclimbs and plenty of swimming through cold water all required to descend this part of the canyon.
We got a pretty late start, mostly because we got back so late from Boundary Canyon the day before and still had to do some last-minute packing. This plus the fact that we were running on 4-5 hours of sleep (for multiple nights in a row) with tired legs from the day before was somewhat concerning. We pushed on anyway and made our way through the approach. It dragged on and on, 5 hours or so. Somehow in all of my mental preparation for Imlay, I was focused on the technical section and had not even given the approach a single thought. It was a lot harder than I expected, I think mostly because we all wanted to be rappelling through the canyon and not burning hours while slogging uphill with the sun beating down on us.
Finally we dropped into the canyon and the real fun began. I was pretty nervous about getting stuck in the canyon after dark and those first few tricky downclimbs and logjams did nothing to assure me we would be moving through quickly!! But as soon as the rappels hit, we picked up the pace and made it through the first narrows section pretty fast thanks to some awesome teamwork and rope management. Had a couple of slight keeper issues but nothing too major. We hit the second narrows section with only 2 hours of daylight left...time to seriously get our boogie on!! The second narrows were much colder and had another couple of keepers to deal with but again pretty easy with the water being so high. I was SO ELATED when we got to the point where we could hear the Virgin River flowing nearby... a sign we were on the homestretch! Got to the last drop just as dusk set in an did the final rappel in the dark, followed by a 1.5 mile hike back down the Virgin River with the enormous walls of the narrows towering above us in the night. Never have I been happier to get back to our cabin, where hot showers, dinner and a soft bed awaited. I don't even think I really slept after the canyon that night, it was more of a delirious coma that I passed out into once my head hit the pillow. Three canyons in 3 days really wore me out!
It took a day for it to sink in -- we really did Imlay! I never thought I could ever do something so "tough". It is definitely not a canyon to underestimate and we were lucky that the keepers were mostly full. We all stayed pretty warm in our wetsuits, I wore a full 3/2 with a rented neoprene jacket over top and only got really cold at the end when we stopped moving for a bit. What I loved the most about the experience though was the comradeship. What a great group -- we pulled together and kicked booty through there. Everyone helped each other out and kept an eye on each other. It's just nuts how focused you have to be in a canyon like that, I don't think there was even a moment where I was thinking of anything else except the task at hand. It was definitely an experience I will NEVER forget!
P.S. - Haha, we decided to cancel our canyoneering plans for next weekend though, I think we all deserve a weekend off.  |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
The water levels were full so thankfully we were able to swim right over the nasty keepers. Save those for another trip. 
This is by far the most amazingly beaUTiful & challenging canyons I've yet to do... 
Thankfully only busted right ankles were sustained when things could have been much, much worse! 
