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Thread: Imlay 9-27-08

  1. #1

    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
    Life is Good

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  3. #2
    Bogley BigShot
    Join Date
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    Wonderful trip report. Looking forward to the photos!

  4. #3
    Enjoyed the read. Looking forward to the pics as well.
    The man thong is wrong.

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