Let me just stop for a moment to explain this hike. Imlay Canyon is considered one of the most difficult, dangerous, physically demanding, and technically challenging hikes out there. For those of you who are familiar with Zion Nation Park and its hikes, you start at the same start as Angel's Landing. You hike 6 miles, the first 3 of them on a paved trail, the second 3 require route finding skills and bushwhacking before you rappel into Imlay Canyon, which is a slot canyon. From there you continue to do rappel after rappel into icy cold water. The water and slot canyon are so cold that you must wear a wet suite. The biggest hazard in Imlay are the "keeper potholes" that require hooking to exit. The final rappel is 200 feet and drops you into the Virgin River at the end of The Narrows.
Friday night (they left Saturday afternoon) Park asked Spencer Ryser, my cousin Emilee's new husband, if he would like to come along. He wanted in, but had no gear, so they bought him what they could and he rented the rest.
Saturday afternoon the four of them took off and headed to Zion to rent the rest of the gear that Spencer needed, ate a good meal, and got their permit at the Backcountry Office. Their plan was to hike the first 6 miles Saturday evening to avoid the hot sun, camp for the night, and then start the rappelling part of the hike Sunday morning. Park told us all that they would be done Sunday afternoon around 2 pm and to meet them at the Visitor's Center then.
Sunday morning, the Hamps took Madilynn and Olivia (who came with us to St. George) with them to Zion to do some hiking and then meet up with Park, Ramsey, Mary, and Spencer after they finished Imlay. I decided to stay back in St. George at the condo with Baby Park because it was way to hot to have him outside for the day, and Mary's friend Abby stayed with us.
2 pm came and went and I hadn't heard from Park or the Hamps. I finally called Park's phone at 6 pm and it went straight to voicemail. I called Elna. They had waited around in Zion for Park and the rest of the group, but after still not hearing from them, they left Zion to come back to St. George. Everyone was a little worried, but we just figured at that point that it was taking them longer than they had thought. We all did some research online about Imlay canyon, and everything we read said that the hike takes anywhere from 12 to 24 hours to complete. At 10 pm we had still not heard from them, so I called the Backcountry Office. They were closed and didn't open back up until 7 am the next morning. We were all starting to freak out, but went to bed. I woke up at 2 am and could not sleep. I watched the clock tick away minute by minute until 7 am came and I had still not gotten a phone call from Park. I called the Backcountry Office and left a message, but Elna, Dennis, Emilee, and I decided to just drive out to Zion and talk to someone in person.
After waiting for what seemed like forever, we finally got to speak with a Park Ranger. He told us that this sort of thing happens all the time. People spend unintended nights in the canyons all the time because hikes end up taking them more time then they had anticipated. He asked us specific questions about each person in the group, and then wanted to know all of the gear they took with them. Luckily I was in the living room with them while they were packing their bags, so I was able to tell the Ranger exactly what they had.
The Ranger decided that we would give them until 12 noon to finish, and if we still hadn't heard from them, he was going to make arraignments to get a helicopter to fly over the canyon to see if they could spot them.
12 noon came and went. The Ranger made the call and a helicopter would be in Zion at 4 pm to fly over the canyon.
Elna, Dennis, Emilee, Baby Park, and I decided to stay close and wait for the helicopter to do a fly by so we could be there when they had any information.
At 2:20 pm the Park Ranger called my cell phone. My heart was racing. He said he was standing there with Park. Park took the phone and told me that they were all safe and that it had just taken them longer than they thought. Thank goodness. We raced over to the Visitor's Center parking lot to see them all standing there smiling with the Park Ranger.
What happened?
Well, what didn't happen.
When they left Saturday evening, they only made it 3 miles before it got too dark to hike anymore. That set them back.
Mary dropped two of the ropes and they were unable to get them back.
Park was the only one setting up the ropes. No one else felt confidant enough to do it. If they had just one more person setting rope it would have gone faster.
The rappels in to the keeper potholes proved to be just as tough or tougher than they thought, and took a lot of time to get out of them.
Sunday night came, and Mary and Ramsey started showing signs of hypothermia. Park made the decision to stop hiking, and sleep there for the night. They stripped out of there wet clothes. Park searched the wet rocky ground for any dry wood that he could find and built a fire on a small pile of rocks that lasted about an hour. They all tried to dry off, warm up, and sleep as best they could until morning came and they were able to finish the rest of the hike.
Mary and Ramsey said they didn't know what would have happened if Park wasn't there. He was a superstar...a "MacGyver" if you will. They said he was amazing. He was more than prepared for every possible scenario and always kept calm. They also said that Spencer was amazing. This was his first real experience with canyoneering. He never complained, he was calm the whole time, and did exactly what Park asked him to do.
Park, Ramsey, Mary, and Spencer all said that they would never do this hike again. It was long, freezing cold, and exhausting. That being said, they have many funny stories to share, and they can tell everyone that they completed the craziest hike in Zion.
Many prayers were said for Park, Ramsey, Mary, and Spencer while they were "missing." I know those prayers were heard and answered. I am so grateful for the power of prayer. I'm so glad that everyone is safe.
Getting ready to start the hike...
Camping the first night
Mr. Prepared
Mary rappelling into the slots
This is where they spent the unexpected night in the canyon...looks pretty miserable to me.
Park rappelling 200 feet into the Narrows
Almost finished!
1 comment:
Wow! So glad they are safe. Love you!
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