Middle Fork of Leprechaun Canyon - North Wash - March 1 2013
WOW!
The middle fork of Leprechaun Canyon was beyond anything I have ever done in canyoneering before. Yeah, yeah. I have done canyons like Heaps, and the Squeeze, but they were not even close to as physical as this canyon was. This canyon is very, VERY skinny Having just completed the East fork of Leprechaun Canyon and thinking it was skinny, I was in for a treat to find the middle fork even MORE skinny! How that is possible? We were all left wondering.
Shimrock Canyon was a pure delight! It took a TON of work, skin, and sweat to get through, but it was an incredible place! The canyon walls were extremely narrow and beautiful. It was filled with both smooth and rough walls. Some walls had zebra stripes, and others had embedded stones. S-curves and other sweeping canyon features were also in abundance.
Like most good thinks in life, to see this beauty of this canyon required a TON of WORK! Starting from the mile ascent to the canyon entrance, to the last crawl out. Additionally, to get a rough understanding what it was like to descend this canyon, imagine having to travel through a canyon sideways. Most of the time your back is to the wall, and you are either walking by shuffling your twisted feet, or jamming your knee or arm into the canyon wall in front of you, and your back into the wall behind thus enabling you to inch your way horizontally through the narrow part of the canyon where your feet couldn't touch the canyon floor.
Some places in this canyon were so skinny that I had to force myself through some sections. In those situations I found my chest or my core getting squeezed very tightly. I was never sacred or felt like anything was to dangerous for me, but I will not lie about effort it took for me to get through this canyon. I honestly can't remember many moments when my feet were on the ground. I do remember MANY moments where I had to go a little higher to get over a especially narrow sections of canyon. I also remember some moments where I could not turn my head around in the canyon; and my feet, once in position, were hardly able to be turned in the opposite direction.
At one time, I had wedged my foot in the canyon in an attempt to push myself up and sideways. In this effort, I found my foot leaving my shoe while it was wedged heel-to-toe between the two canyon walls. My friend Dave laughed and then handed me my shoe!
We all had a great time struggling through this beauty. Jake Dempsey and Tyler Tingey are fairly new to the sport, and this canyon was their baptism by fire! Jake mentioned a few times how at moments he would think to himself: "I LOVE THIS!", and the next moment he would exclaim: "Man, I HATE THIS!". Tyler kept on swearing that he was out of shape and that this was the hardest thing he had ever done. I don't believe either one of these claims. He never seem to complain like I was, and always had the look of amazement on his face. He was always taking the opportunity to stop for a picture, for which we are all grateful. Some of the best pictures of the trip were captured by him.
Joel and Dave are fairly seasoned canyoneers. They were great assets to have around. When Joel wasn't smashing his knee or ripping of his toenails, he was leading the way in the canyon, often the first one through a obstacle. Him and Jake pretty much did all the technical route finding for us.
Dave has this great appreciation for the beauty of the canyon. In any place out doors you will find him slowing down to admire a micro features of our beautiful Earth. Weather it be a shiny rock, or a hole in the wall, or huge sheer cliff wall! It is great thing to have a friend like Dave to help you realize the beauty of the little things. It is also comforting to have a climber around when doing canyons. Dave is my go-to climber. If you don't reign him down, you will find him scaling any rock he can get his hands on!
