It started almost immediately upon Brian's arrival to Zion. Once he learned that the two big boys were Heaps and Imlay, he was determined to get through them. I, being of a more cautious nature, was determined to stay away from those canyons because they posed the largest danger. Now that it was August and Brian would soon be leaving to attend BYU in the fall, the push to do one of the two was even stronger. Brian had been working at the backcountry desk and thus was privy to all the information coming in about the canyons. He heard that Imlay was full of water and this was a great time to do it. The summer and all of our experience going through canyons was finally getting to me and giving me more confidence. That is why on August 27th when he asked me to go through Imlay, I finally said yes.
This sent us into a flurry getting gear together and packing for the trip. We tried to invite others to go with us, but eventually we knew that our group would only be two. I was so nervous about getting enough sleep, but Jacqueline helped me get some sleep. It took me a long time to fall asleep, but I got a good five hours in by the 4am wakeup time. I was out the door immediately and we parked at the Grotto to begin our hike at 4:30am. The next few hours were spent hauling our gear and ourselves up the switchbacks to Scout's Lookout then down to the bridge crossing Telephone Canyon. Right past this bridge we split off for the sneak route. This took us through slickrock until we eventually took the canyon on the left of the two to pick. In this canyon, we found a deer carcass that was being attacked by maggots. It was something out of a scary movie because there were thousands of them. Down canyon, we got a wiff of the smell and it was none too pleasant.
In this canyon, we had to negotiate a few obstacles, but just walking on the side of a cliff, I took a tumble. I was able to stop myself, but it was very scary. I did not realize it at the time but I would have fallen a good distance. We recovered from this to finally gain Imlay canyon proper. We did not have to wander far before it was time to put our wetsuits on. It was near about 6:30am at this time, thus giving us plenty of time to complete the canyon. It was now or never for the backout point and once we did that first rappel, I said to Brian, "Now we've done Imlay Canyon." I said that because there was no turning around with slot canyons. We were now committed. What came after this was nearly a blur because it all runs together.
There were two sections, each with somewhere near a dozen rappels. Most went exactly like this: Throw your pack in the water, hook up, rappel down twenty feet, do a swimming disconnect, swim to a pothole, pass the packs to the first person to climb out, toss the packs in the next pothole, climb out, repeat. Brian and I had a system, which we did not even need to discuss. He went first nearly every time and I went second. He would rappel in and learn how to climb out of the pothole, I would do the heavy lifting on the water logged packs. There were some variations thrown in. Sometimes we would have longer rappels, sometimes we would handline shorter more awkward spots, sometimes we would have log jams to get around, but for most of the canyon we moved vertically by rappelling and horizontally by swimming.
This made the most difficult part of Imlay being the amount of work and physical fitness required. It helped to have a very thick wetsuit because I never felt the cold water and I could float very eas
ily. Eventually we popped out and could hear the waters of the Virgin River flowing 180 feet below. We peered over the edge to see the huge drop. I made the comment of "now we've done Imlay" after the first rappel, but nothing would make me believe it until I had finished the last rappel. Brian set up the last rappel and soon he was on his way. It was a long time before I heard him yell, "Off rope". It sounded a long way off. I walked over to the rappel platform and hooked myself up. I began on my way down, choosing not to hang my pack. It went fine, but it was so slow. I inched along first down the wall and then off into the air. It was a sweet, beautiful, amazing rappel to just be suspended in the air over the V
irgin Narrows. When I hit the ground, a feeling of relief and accomplishment came over me. I looked around to see the other people around and I was expecting some sort of crowd, but no one seemed to really care. I think the best we got was some guy asking if we were climbing. It did not matter though because I felt quite a bit of happiness with myself and my good friend for our accomplishment. It was now only a little after 1pm and all we had to do was wander down the Narrows, catch the shuttle bus to the Grotto, and then we were home. It was not until 3:30pm that we were back at the vehicle, but a figured car to car 11 hours was rather decent for the descent.
This sent us into a flurry getting gear together and packing for the trip. We tried to invite others to go with us, but eventually we knew that our group would only be two. I was so nervous about getting enough sleep, but Jacqueline helped me get some sleep. It took me a long time to fall asleep, but I got a good five hours in by the 4am wakeup time. I was out the door immediately and we parked at the Grotto to begin our hike at 4:30am. The next few hours were spent hauling our gear and ourselves up the switchbacks to Scout's Lookout then down to the bridge crossing Telephone Canyon. Right past this bridge we split off for the sneak route. This took us through slickrock until we eventually took the canyon on the left of the two to pick. In this canyon, we found a deer carcass that was being attacked by maggots. It was something out of a scary movie because there were thousands of them. Down canyon, we got a wiff of the smell and it was none too pleasant. 
In this canyon, we had to negotiate a few obstacles, but just walking on the side of a cliff, I took a tumble. I was able to stop myself, but it was very scary. I did not realize it at the time but I would have fallen a good distance. We recovered from this to finally gain Imlay canyon proper. We did not have to wander far before it was time to put our wetsuits on. It was near about 6:30am at this time, thus giving us plenty of time to complete the canyon. It was now or never for the backout point and once we did that first rappel, I said to Brian, "Now we've done Imlay Canyon." I said that because there was no turning around with slot canyons. We were now committed. What came after this was nearly a blur because it all runs together. 
There were two sections, each with somewhere near a dozen rappels. Most went exactly like this: Throw your pack in the water, hook up, rappel down twenty feet, do a swimming disconnect, swim to a pothole, pass the packs to the first person to climb out, toss the packs in the next pothole, climb out, repeat. Brian and I had a system, which we did not even need to discuss. He went first nearly every time and I went second. He would rappel in and learn how to climb out of the pothole, I would do the heavy lifting on the water logged packs. There were some variations thrown in. Sometimes we would have longer rappels, sometimes we would handline shorter more awkward spots, sometimes we would have log jams to get around, but for most of the canyon we moved vertically by rappelling and horizontally by swimming. 
This made the most difficult part of Imlay being the amount of work and physical fitness required. It helped to have a very thick wetsuit because I never felt the cold water and I could float very eas
ily. Eventually we popped out and could hear the waters of the Virgin River flowing 180 feet below. We peered over the edge to see the huge drop. I made the comment of "now we've done Imlay" after the first rappel, but nothing would make me believe it until I had finished the last rappel. Brian set up the last rappel and soon he was on his way. It was a long time before I heard him yell, "Off rope". It sounded a long way off. I walked over to the rappel platform and hooked myself up. I began on my way down, choosing not to hang my pack. It went fine, but it was so slow. I inched along first down the wall and then off into the air. It was a sweet, beautiful, amazing rappel to just be suspended in the air over the V
irgin Narrows. When I hit the ground, a feeling of relief and accomplishment came over me. I looked around to see the other people around and I was expecting some sort of crowd, but no one seemed to really care. I think the best we got was some guy asking if we were climbing. It did not matter though because I felt quite a bit of happiness with myself and my good friend for our accomplishment. It was now only a little after 1pm and all we had to do was wander down the Narrows, catch the shuttle bus to the Grotto, and then we were home. It was not until 3:30pm that we were back at the vehicle, but a figured car to car 11 hours was rather decent for the descent.
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