Bats and mice (tr)

[mrbrejcha]

TR: Imlay Sneak 7.1.7

Randi, Sonny and Scott let me come along on their Imlay trip. Sorry, I don't have any pictures, I don't have a water proof case for my new camera yet. We started hiking from the grotto about 6am. Nothing like a giant friggin' hill to start of the day with! We took a short break where we left the trail and headed cross country. We came to a nice slab to climb and just at the top was a tree, I scrambled up with randi right behind, grabbed the tree, pulled onto the other side and used it as a foothold to keep headin' up, randi pulled on it as a handhold and we heard a loud CRACK. I about shit my pants. I think my pack hit and broke a big branch, but it's a mystery....so don't pull on the tree (the one with branches and pine needles [i think it has roots too]). Anyways, then we did some "mountain goat hiking," some uphill sand slogging, some bushwhacking and I did a little bit of grass climbing. After about four hours we were at the crossroads, we took a short break and then suited up. I love putting on stinky neoprene in the sun. The first pool we got to, i went in and it didn't cool me off much. I was sweating bullets at the first anchor. I rapped first, ran out of rope and was lowered by Randi the rest of the way....into a POOL! I stayed in the water with the frogs for a bit. The canyon was pretty fun for a the first part with lots of fun down climbs, short rappels, a little wading; the scenery wasn't too bad either. Sonny showed me a bunch of tricks. We came to the simul-rap which has a bolt right next to it. Sonny and Scott rapped the bolt then Randi and i did the simul-rap. I guess I'm weird, but I really like simul rapping. The narrows started to get deeeep, and soon after we stumbled onto our first keeper. Scott and I went in and Scott let me hook out. Most of the holes were blown out, so I was in the top steps. It took me two or three moves to get out and then I dropped the aiders to help everybody else up. We walked about ten meters to the next problem. It was a rap into a deeeep pot hole with logs blocking the exit. Randi broke out the potshot and Sonny gave her tips on setting up the guided rappel. Once the bag was stuck she zipped across effortlessly and set the guide line for everybody else. The next pothole wasn't too far down, Scott pretty much threw me to the lip of it, where I scrambled out and helped everyone else out. i think it was a few more raps and maybe another keeper then the big open area where we stopped for lunch and a MUCH needed pee break. After lunch we headed down again, It was hiking for a bit, then some swimming. I swam through one grungy looking pool, started walking again and heard a "yelp," Randi found a dead bat in the pool. Yum. The second set of narrows was just as good as the first, lots of shorts raps, some partner assist potholes and downclimbing. Soon, we came to a BIG pothole with some nice oily looking water in it. Somehow I lucked out and got to hook out of this one too. I rapped in, found a dead mouse floating around and swam over to the hook holes. They were in pretty good shape and it was easy to get up out of the cold water without much fiddling. This pothole to 3 or 4 hook moves and I wasn't too close to my bottom steps The Pothole ended on a lip with bolts and a drop on the other side, so I clipped aiders to the anchor for everyone else to climb up and began rigging the next rap. The next pothole was a good one too, and Scott and Randi did a partner assist to get out. The next problem was right after, it was a string of potholes with logs in them. Sonny handed me the potshot with a talon clipped to the bottom. It was a long throw so I wound up and chucked, the talon got stuck to my personal clip-in and was probably really funny looking. After a few tosses the bag stuck and I got to rap into the first pothole and jug up the other side. Then Scott came, and when he got to where I was I shimmied across a log above a big pothole to the next anchor and a big drop. Randi and I set up a single line on the next anchor and rapped while Sonny was rapping and log shimmying. Sonny and Scott rigged the pull line and rapped down to meet us. Just around the corner was the virgin narrows and a big rap. Sonny rigged it and down we went. What a great place to be and a great way to end the canyon. We coiled ropes and took a MUCH MUCH needed pee break and headed down stream. I kept looking for Mystery's exit to know how close to the end we were and eventually found it. There was a party setting up ropes on it. They chucked their bag and it wasn't tied to the end of the rope so it started to float away, they owe Scott some beer because that was one hell of a sprint into a dive. Eventually we reached the shuttle bus, then the car. Car to car time was 13 hours.

Imaly was a great canyon and it was even more fun with great people. Thanks to Sonny, Randi and Scott for letting me tag along. You guys were a lot of fun and I hope the rest of your trip was/is great. Sonny is fantastic at sharing his knowledge, and showed me a few techniques to make things go much easier. I had a blast with you guys!

Scott and Sonny had both done Imlay before and through out the canyon kept talking about how different it was with no water. Apparently Imlay is REALLY dry right now. I had on a 4/5 wetsuit and was a bit warm. I can only remember one floating disconnect.

[Wasatch]

Sounds like you had a great time.

[Randi]

Sounds like you had a great time.

Yeah, we ALL had a great time! Matt was a super addition to our group: Fun, competent and a really nice guy.

I would definitely hook up with you again Matt.
Heaps?

Thanks for the nice TR. I'd forgotten about that tree on CRACK! That was scary! And the grasping for grass...funny! What a great time. I do have a few pics (including a couple of the simul rap) that I'll post at some point.

Happy canyons everyone!

~Randi

[mrbrejcha]

Heaps?

~Randi

You know it!

[Scott Card]

Great report, sounds like you all had a great time. I have got to get back there in the dry times. I want to try out some rope tricks and hooking out of those keepers is just something I neeeeed to do . Nice job y'all.