Imlay Canyon (With A Rescue!)
28 September 2013
This was a highly anticipated trip! Imlay canyon is one of Zion National Parks most difficult slot canyons to descend. I was super excited to experience this canyon for myself. Having done Heaps canyon a few times I THOUGHT I had an idea of how beautiful and difficult this canyon would be. I was wrong. Imlay was way harder than I imagined it could be! Imlay was also way more beautiful than I expected! All in all, Imlay was way more than I expected! way more in almost every way!
Joel, Luke, Josh and I arrived at the Lava Point trail head around 10:30pm Thursday evening (26 Sep 2013). The original plan was to pack in to Potato Hollow and camp there for the night, BUT the current weather conditions scared us away from that idea. The temps that night were in the low 30's and we figured it would be best to get a good nights sleep in the warmth of our actual winter sleeping bags, rather than to try and survive the night in our emergency bivy setups. We were all very happy we chose to sleep near the cars where we were able to stay warm.
5:00 AM came quickly. by 6:00 AM we are all packed up and speed walking down the West Rim Trail to head of IMLAY canyon! our spirits were high. By about 7:30 we arrived at the first rappel. 5 miles in 1.5 hours. I felt that was pretty good considering we were all carrying 40 lb packs :)
The head of Imlay was a beautiful sight to see. And for me to actually be awake to see the sun rising over the canyon made the moment even more special. The top of Imlay canyon is deep, seeming long, and curvy. It is always a wonderful to look upon the red and white canyon walls that typify Zion. Scattered along the canyon cliff sides are pine trees and other foliage. It is beautiful to see the contrasting colors -- Greens, reds, and whites. Natures artwork never ceases to amaze me!
The descent into the canyon got really fun really quick. The initial sections of narrows was beautiful! We loved traversing over and through the little potholes that initially presented themselves. Nothing about this part of the canyon was particularly difficult. there was a little bit of bush whacking, but the canyon was relatively simple and beautiful!
We did run into some trouble once we arrived at the 300' big white wall. In order to get down this wall, the beta sources that we had recommend that we do it in 3 stages. the problem was that the only one who had read the beta was Joel. Before we knew it, Josh was on the rope and had descended past 2 rebelay stations. He though the 175' rappel was from the first tree, so as he was going down he wasn't even looking for other anchor stations. needless to say, by the time he got mostly down the cliff, he realized that the rope was about 50' to short! Josh locked off and communicated to us the situation. It was time for our limited rescue training to kick in.
Because we had used a Stone knot to set the anchor, we realized really quick that our normal way of creating a haul system was not gunna be possible. With me on the rope implementing the haul system, and with Luke's Coaching, we figured out a way to release the weight on the stone knot and anchor, which then allowed us to re rig the whole anchor with a munter mule hitch. The munter hitch allowed us to tie a second rope to the rope Josh was currently on, and thus lower him (passing a knot) the rest of the way to the ground. This whole experience was very interesting to me. We knew what to do, we had practiced haul systems (and lower systems) but when it came down to it, I was pretty nervous and was finding it hard to think super clear. Luke was there and was very level headed and with his coaching everything we really smooth.
After our little rescue practice session (haha!), we continued on to the Imlay crossroads. The crossroads were kind of our major milestone marker. By about 1pm we arrived there and ate lunch. We figured that since it was only 1PM that we would be able to do the next section of narrows in 7 hours. We didn't want to bivy in the canyon. Sleeping in a slot canyon when the forecasted lows were in the 20s and 30's just didn't sound fun at all, so we were pretty motivated to make it to the narrows before dark.
After a quick lunch, we descended into Imlay's wondrous narrows! The deeper we descended the more magnificent the narrows became! The narrows were so DEEP and DARK. they were also extremely curvy and smooth. I often found myself looking up only to find slivers of light glowing at the top 100's of feet above me. We passed beautiful arches! jumped in and out of potholes, traversed log jams, gazed upon smooth sandstone cliffs, stomped though beautiful white sandbars, pushed through sections of log soup, and ultimately have the adventure of a lifetime! (I can't get beauty of the narrows out of my head! it was truly amazing to see narrows like those!)
For the most part my little team of 4 worked really well. We only had a few sections of canyon that proved to be semi troublesome. The 170' rappel, and the final raps before the final drop into the narrows. I'm not even sure what was happened to slow us down so bad for that final 4 rappels, but it seemed to take forever to get through that section. But it was all worth it. The final drop into the narrows was spectacular!
The Narrows! That place truly is one of the most beautiful places in this world! It was a bitter sweet experience to see them on this trip. I'm convinced that the view while rappelling from the last drop in Imlay is one of the best ever! it is hard to explain, but looking down into the amazing narrows, with the slow going and clear virgin river meandering through the gravel and sand below, It is just something incredible! This was pure sweetness! The bitter came from the idea that we still had 2.5 hours of hiking in the narrows before we reached the shuttle bus! I was already REALLY sore and very tired. the thought of hiking in a river bed for that long was definitely a bitter thought. BUT, life cant be that bad really if one had to ENDURE hiking and walking in a place as beautiful as the Zion Narrows! Another amazing thing was that we had the whole place to ourselves! there was not a single soul to be seen or heard as we hiked back. I'm not sure that will ever happen again. It will be something to cherished forever!
Finally, we arrived at the Zion Visitors center. We pretty much just took over the men's bathroom (haha!). We had staged a motorcycle in the Zions Visitor Center parking lot, so Josh geared up for the cold drive back to his truck at Lava Point. the rest of us were to just wait for him to come back. That wait was about 2.5 hours long. Needless to say,we were happy when Josh arrived with the truck and we were able to load up and go find dinner!
We debated on weather to drive home that night, or to stay in a hotel. The hotel won! After eating at Denny's in Cedar City, we drove down the block and booked a night in the Americas Best Value Inn! $74 for 4 people, yeah we felt it was worth every penny!
All in all, Imlay was AMAZING! It was by far the hardest canyon any of us had ever done! It was also one of the most beautiful places any of us had ever been! The beauty of those narrows are burned into my mind. I am so grateful that I have been able to see places like that. God has been very good to me! I have amazing friends who come with me on trips like this. I have an amazing wife who lets me go! And Glory to God be given for it is He who has created these beautiful places! With out him I truly have and am nothing. My heart is full :)
