June 26, 2023
5:30 car to car, group of 2
We found the start of the canyon easy, 20 minutes from the road to the rim, then just found a spot to rappel in. The first section of the canyon starts off with a super cool drop into the slot, then lots of fun off-width stemming. Not as narrow as the rest of the canyon but many more steeper drops. We found it pretty easygoing and a good warm-up for what's to come.
The canyon opens up distinctly before the second section. The next section was much narrower and got quite dark in some places. This section took the most time and was the most tiring. Most places are less than 15in wide, and the canyon is slanted. We mostly had packs off, pulling them behind us and chest to the wall just sliding along. Lots of scrapes and bruises after this day. We saw hundreds of spiders that would cover the walls in the darker sections of the canyon.
There is another distinct opening before the third section. Quickly after we entered the third section we got to the Grim crawl drop. This is the crux of the canyon and the part we were most worried about. We crawled out on the shelf on the right side and found a large chalkstone that we were able to rap off to get down the drop. I would not recommend climbing down, as it's awkward off-width stemming with 50+ foot exposure. The third section of the canyon was my favorite. The canyon is more vertical so squeezing through is not as awkward and goes easier on the arm scraping. It's narrower than the second section but easier going. The final rappel out of the canyon is beautiful into a pool cavern. We managed to stay dry above the knees with a tiny ledge on the left, but the walls are very slippery with moss. We continued down the canyon to climb out an exit on the right up a boulder pile. The exit route was pretty grueling, in the heat of the day and right in the sun. Lots of steep scrambling but finally we made it back to the top, and the last couple miles on the road back to the car.
