A group of 9, lead by Mark Rosen, did Imlay (short cut version)this last Monday. We stayed in a rented cabin (many are spending a whole week doing canyons and this is our base camp) 9.8 miles up the Kolob road out of Virgin. We got up at 4:00 am and drove to the Grotto. Mark has secured a red pass which allowed us to park there. We started hiking at 5:45am. When we started the hike it was chilly so we all had sweats or jackets to hike in. By the time we reached Scout Lookout (approximately 45 minutes) we were all sweating like pigs and shed all the extra warm weather gear. We reached the bridge at 7:15am It was just light enough to see our destination. Several of us had GPS’s with Shane’s trusty waypoints but it really is pretty obvious where you need to go. We made it to the crossroads in 3 1/2 hours from leaving the Grotto. Suited up and headed out for the adventure. This was my first trip through Imlay so I had little to compare this trip to. However, Mark indicated that there was very little water compared to previous trips and that many of the deeper pot holes were filled with sand. We never hooked out of any pothole. At each keeper we would send 2 guys (3 if really deep) and partner assist out of the pothole. Sometimes this meant climbing up off shoulders and even outstreached hands. We would then hook a rope to our harnessess and create a zip line for the remaining 6 – 7 in our group to slide across. This process worked very will and even with the large group hit the shuttle about 5:15pm. The “no hook” method worked well as we had a large group with some strong individuals who were able to consistently and efficiently partner assist out of the keepers. However, I don’t think I would ever do this canyon without hooks and the knowledge of how to use them. I would agree with Shane’s assesment that this is a canyon that requires more skill and experience that the typical Zions canyon.
All in all it was a great day. I have done most of the bigger canyons in Zions (Kolob, Heaps, etc.) but I would have to say that Imlay has got to be my favorite. It just has a great combination of beauty, physical challenges, and problem solving that draw people to this sport. It is definately on my list to do again, hopefully next time with more water as I would like to see it under those circumstances.
See ya on the trail, Jeff