Not Imlay Canyon
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| | Difficulty:4A III (v4a1 III) Raps:4-7, max ↨300ft
Red Tape:Permit required Shuttle:None Vehicle:Passenger | |||||||||||||||
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| Condition Reports: | 6 Apr 2025
"Kind of a weird and clunky canyon. The location is the highlight. Rappels and canyon quality are lacking imo. Nice challenge if youre up for problem |
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37.3004, -112.9510
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Introduction
The approach is long (3 hours at a moderate pace) and involves some bushwhacking. The canyon itself is 800 lateral feet and drops about 800 feet in elevation. Like many Zion canyons, it is not all that technical, but does provide spectacular views of The Narrows and Zion in general. A fine tour. In addition to two long rappels (>250 feet), there is a nice, moderate downclimbing section in the middle. The free-hanging drop into the Narrows is the best of the three usual suspects (Imlay, Mystery, Not Imlay). Worth the effort. Good for summer as most of the route is in the shade, with the exception of the first two rappels, and the river walk will cool you off even on a 100 degree day. No wetsuit required, even after rain.
Due to the long rappels, this is not a good canyon for beginners. Several coreshots can be attributed to beginners not rigging for a smooth descent on the last rappel. Conveniently, the coreshot will be in the middle of your rope.
Approach
Use the right-hand Sneak Route towards Imlay, but cut right after the first pass. An early start in summer is helpful.
Descent
R1: WARNING: The originally published line of descent rapped about 80 feet to the side of the watercourse to a sandy, steeply-sloped, unpleasant ledge, and then from a tree through trees back into the watercourse. More recently, the 300 foot rappel next to the watercourse has become popular. Be sure you are clear on which of these you are doing. Lack of clarity on this issue resulted in a fatal accident October of 2015.
There is important beta to understand about this canyon - be sure to read up-to-date sources.
Rappel just to the south of the watercourse. Seek out a stout tree 20 feet to the right of the watercourse and attach a long sling to get the rappel ring down the slab quite a ways. Longer! No, longer!!! (Best if the sling is about 40 feet).
R1: 300 feet total (92m). 280 feet to a large ledge. First one down can bottom-belay here. Continue the rappel to the bottom, if the rope reaches. (If not, climb awkwardly around to the right).
Following the center of the watercourse takes you to a roomy and sandy ledge with 6" tree as intermediate anchor, which can be used to break R1 into 2 rappels approximately 200 and 100 feet.
R2: 120 feet (40m) down a vertical wall off a couple bolts, if they are still there. ;-)
Downclimb 10 feet.
R3: 25 feet (8m) down a slot. An abundance of natural anchor opportunities are available. Or downclimb at a moderate level of difficulty.
Downclimb the slot to a steep part.
R4: 15 feet (5m) off an old bolt. Downclimbable.
Below the steep section, the downclimb continues down a fun, easy V-slot chimney. Scramble through some boulders to a large ledge with a drop beyond.
R5: 90 feet (30m) from a tree or two, rap down a vertical wall.
Sashay down to a VERY large boulder, with a dropoff into The Narrows beyond.
R6: 260 feet (80m) from webbing around the pinch under the VERY large boulder, rappel to The Narrows below. The webbing is often 'just too short'. Make it longer.
Be very careful on the last rappel, as it goes into The Narrows in a place where hikers are likely present. Thankfully, there is little to no loose rock, but it will require conscientious ropework to not endanger those below. The first person will need to rappel with the rope bag rather than tossing it. Feeding the rope down does not work due to a rope-catching ledge. People in The Narrows will not be able to hear a call of "ROPE" due to the water noise and would be unlikely to understand what that means. Dropping the ropebag into the Narrows is also not recommended; the bag might get carried away by the current, resulting in an annoyingly unresponsive bottom belay.
Many people have coreshot ropes on this rappel, mostly at the point where it goes free, so rig carefully. Change the abrasion point on the rope after each person rappels. With the anchor well extended for reasonable pull, the drop is 260 feet with about 140 feet free. Rigged at the giant boulder pinch point, the final rappel would be like 280 feet, but the pull would be impossible.
Exit
Hike out The Narrows about 20 minutes to the trail, than about 20 minutes to the Temple of Sinawava.
Red tape
A permit is required for this canyon. Group size limit is 6; daily quota is most likely 12. Not particularly competitive.
Beta sites
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http://bluugnome.com/cyn_route/zion/zion_not-imlay/zion_not-imlay.aspx BluuGnome.com : Not Imlay Canyon (not up to date) - Super Amazing Map : Not Imlay
- CanyoneeringUSA.com : Not Imlay
Trip reports and media
5/30/2015 There is a new anchor where you can rap straight down the wall in rap 1. It's a great rap and the 300' rope you have for the last rap will work well. You can rap all the way down to the second rap if you have enough rope for a pull side but we were not sure so we set up a second anchor on a small tree. (comment: the rap is 300' IF the anchor at the top extends down the slab a long way). The last rap is definitely longer than 230' it is way more like 260 maybe even 280. We had to lower someone 8' as he threw 260' of rope and it was short! Beautiful Canyon.
9/26/2017 http://adamhaydock.blogspot.com/2017/09/not-imlay-canyon-zion-national-park-utah.html
