Blarney/Shillelagh/Leprachaun

Has anyone done these canyons recently? What is their tendancy to hold water/their typical water levels? I know they normally should be OK, but it seems like during the monsoon season you never know...
I want to take some people down there. The plan will probably be to do the left flork of Blarney in the early morning then go back up and do one of the forks of Shillelagh.
We are taking beginners, and i definitely do not want to run in to anything we need to swim through. Are these good canyons for beginners?
Also, what about the right fork of leprachaun instead? I am definitely bigger than the average canyoneer, and have never done any canyons in this area before, i hear some can get pretty tight...

Those tight ones would be no fun if they were full of water.

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Originally Posted by DWayne27

Has anyone done these canyons recently? What is their tendancy to hold water/their typical water levels? I know they normally should be OK, but it seems like during the monsoon season you never know...
I want to take some people down there. The plan will probably be to do the left flork of Blarney in the early morning then go back up and do one of the forks of Shillelagh.
We are taking beginners, and i definitely do not want to run in to anything we need to swim through. Are these good canyons for beginners?
Also, what about the right fork of leprachaun instead? I am definitely bigger than the average canyoneer, and have never done any canyons in this area before, i hear some can get pretty tight...

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Those canyons tend to dry out pretty fast, still, be prepared for wading to waist deep, and you might even have to swim. At these temps, all but a few places should dry out quickly.

There's a hole in Shenanigans fairly early that holds water well, making it a potential swim. It has a tall downclimb into it, so if you come to a downclimb with a puddle at the bottom, you might want to bag-up before heading down.

The EAST fork of Leprechaun is a good place to start in the Lep system, as it has only a taste of the squeezin' that characterizes the main fork.

Tom

Awwwwwww

There is a very small section in Belfast Boulevard just below the tech section in East Lep that has held chest-deep water in the past. But it's really short - in n'out in less than 10 seconds. I've only ever seen it that deep on one occasion.