Trip Report Imlay 9-27-08

Photos to come shortly, I hope. Here is the write-up.

A not-so-quick TR for one of my top five canyons! I finally notched
the full Imlay on my belt. I did the Sneek route before and won't do
it again. The full Imlay is the way to go.

On Friday, September 26, 2008, Clark, Steve, Landon, John, Larry and
I drove to Springdale to drop Steve's car off for our spot car.
Before leaving, however, I got nervous about wearing a 4/3 in Imlay
and I called Tom for a vest. He called me back when we were on the
road and we were able to stop by the place where all the Imlay gear
magic happens. We picked up a couple of other items and had a short
chat for a bit and off we went to meet up with the other car. Thanks
Tom! We met at the Whiptail Grill for dinner. That place is now one
of my favorites in Springdale. Great food! We dropped the car and
drove up to the west rim trail head. We noticed another truck up
there. We sacked out for a few hours and got up at 5:15 to pack and
be on the trail at a little after 6:00 a.m. I will never tire of
watching a sunrise over east Zion. Spectacular! At the Potato
Hollow turnoff, we briefly chatted with some campers who were just
getting up having hiked from the trail head the day before and who
would finish the West Rim Trail that day. They wondered what we were
doing and how long we had been hiking. We told them we had been
hiking for just over an hour and we were off to Imlay. We also
mentioned that were in store for a treat when hiking the rest of the
West Rim Trail. What a view.

But I digress. We quickly found the first rap and off we went. We
were a little off our game at first as it took us a few minutes
coordinate our ropes, send the right ropes forward...etc. We came
off the big wall and holy cow what an impressive view particularly
looking up and to the left. We bushwhacked, down climbed, and
rapped. Just prior to the Crossroads, I think, we came upon our
first significant water. Of course the skinny young guys sent me and
John, the, shall we say, bit more nourished of the group, ahead to
check the depth and temperature. Sure enough, a full swim, in fact
two in a row. After gasping for breath, I yelled up it was a swim.
So they suited up. We froze waiting for one more rope and then
rapped and raced to the sunlight to suit up. I wrung out my wet
cloths and packed them in a pot shot in side of my dry bag. Note to
self, double check the valve on the dry bag next time. Anyway, we
were at the crossroads at about noon. We refueled and off we went.

By now, we were all on our game and ropes were being passed
efficiently, down climbing well and so on. Then boom, the first true
keeper. Larry had a go at the hooking thing and did a great job.
The holes are mostly blown out. It seemed that only one hole on the
left was any good and one up high on the right was good, the rest
seemed to be junk. Spidey conquered it in record speed. BTW, that
hole seems to be a treasure trove of stuff that was dropped by prior
attemptees. We know. We dropped on piece of gear and came up with
another and apparently Bruce from Bryce also came up with stuff from
that hole. Any way, a couple of other pot holes required hooking,
most were escaped with partner assists. We set two guided raps on
meat and we were at the final rap some were between 3:30 p.m. and
4:00 p.m. where we met up with Bruce from Bryce's group. I was
hanging back at the last guided rap since we sort of screwed up and
pulled the rope prior to untying a figure 8 I was using as back-up-
meat. Yes, my function is "meat anchor", "back-up meat" and water
tester. I get all the good jobs!!!! Anyway, by the time I meandered
to the last rap, Bruce was at the bottom and all I could do was
wave. Nancy was there too but I didn't know that `till later. (I
still owe you a helmet Nancy) Bruce was kind enough to let Spidey and
Clark play through so as to sprint the Narrows to get the car from
the trail head. We moseyed our way down the narrows, the whole time
I was wondering why my pack seemed to be getting heavier when I would
float the deep parts (open dry bag valve dummy!Did I mention that the
really good 2-ply toilet paper swells to like 100 times its size in a
dry bag when water is added?) We didn't go particularly fast but
also did not let people pass us so as to have the maximum "coolness"
effect on the tourists. We really entertained them when we would go
for the deep parts and float on by. Please don't anyone tell me I
didn't look cool. We met Clark and Spidey for yet another dinner at
the Whiptail Grill. With much Mountain Dew and cinnamon bears later,
we arrived safely in Mapleton and no ranger contact at all this trip
for the Mapleton boys.

What you really want to know: I was in a 4/3 wet suit and baked. I
put the vest on that I got from Tom and really baked. I took it off
and didn't put it back on the rest of the day. That vest will be
great for winter stuff. The weather was great and conditions were
normal (half full is normal I understand, right Tom?), and the
tourists were plentiful in the Narrows. I trashed one seat on the
bus with my never ending draining pack and water was running down the
isle. I can't believe no one wanted to sit next to us. Maybe it
was `cause John had his wetsuit top down. :-0

Fabulous trip! I will post photos hopefully when Clark gives me
his. I left my camera in the truck which was protected by my helmet
which I also forgot. Did I mention I am not a morning person?

Scott Card