East Fork & Main Fork The North Wash, Utah After my evening with Tomer and (then fiancee, now wife) Gracie, I headed back west to Moab. A close and dear friend was arriving by air, and I hadn’t seen Carole in since leaving L.A. two months before. After a day in Moab showing her around we headed south to do the long loop back up to Hanksvillle. It was a beautiful drive and around mid afternoon we arrived at mile marker 28 out on the 95 Hwy. We found a great spot to camp just at the bottom of Leprechaun Canyon and went for a hike to scout out the approach for tomorrows double header, east fork and main fork. Finding the trail was a little tricky as the initial way was over slick rock sandstone and there were no markers to follow. Eventually we pieced it together and found a well trod path. With a GPS track in place we headed back to camp for some dinner, wine, and star gazing. East Fork – 3A II We woke up just as light was creeping through the corners of my blocked out windows. There was a slight chill in the air, but we were both excited to see these canyons of skinny slot fame. By the time the sun made it over the horizon we were will on our way up to the drop in point. It took a little wandering to find the first drop and there was a brand new piece of webbing with rapid secured to a solid deadman anchor. After inspection I dropped into the twisting chute about 20 feet. We squirmed our way through and down and exited the narrow into a wide section and started our descent. The canyon was beautiful. The winding narrows were filled with water from the heavy rains a week before. At every pool I tried my hardest to stay out of the wetness, stretching my legs in every which way you can imagine. Carole gave it up at around the third pool but I made it through quite a few of them dry. That is until as I was crossing one, my legs stretched so far apart it would make Jean Claude Van Damme cringe, my toe slipped and next thing I know I was thigh deep in the water, Carole laughing at my ridiculous failure. Getting wet meant there was nothing to slow us down and we started forging through the east fork at a respectable pace. There were many twists and turns where we found ourselves sliding into water though it never got deeper than my waist. Finally we reached the final drop, the part that would lead us down into the bottom of the middle fork and the famed Belfast Boulevard. Here we rested and dried out a bit and instead of descending we scrambled out of the canyon and up onto the ridge separating the east fork from the middle fork. Some 30 minutes later we were at the mouth of the Middle Fork. Middle Fork – 3A III The beta gave two options for the entry into the middle fork and after deciding to take the more direct and safer drop we entered the ominous canyon. One year before, both Carole and I had found a narrow squirly canyon called “Spooky” out in Escalante, UT. We were convinced it would be impossible to get much skinnier than that and so our expectations were quite ill conceived of the hours to come. Of course Anya had warned me that Middle Lep was going to make Spooky seem like a day in the park, I had remained skeptical. The east fork had presented some creepy sections but they had been fairly short and shallow. What was to come would be as mind boggling as the vast and grand scope of the Grand Canyon… only reversed. The first section of narrow that we came to was indeed like nothing I could have imagined. We stood deep within this fissure, and with every step the walls inched closer until soon the soles of our shoes could not make land fall and only the edges were able to connect with the tapering walls of the canyon. Struggling our way forward, laughing in disbelief, the floor of the canyon dropped below us, the walls still too narrow to be able to touch anything but the sides of our sneakers against rock. Now working our way forward and downward, I was reminded of a very confusing and uncomfortable style of climbing called off width. We were now in an incredibly long off width traverse. Every step taken felt like you might slip to deep into the tapered floor and get your foot stuck. And now we were going down as well. After about 30 minutes of this we realized we had barely just begun what was now to surely be a long descent. This happened again about two more times, each with a reward of widening walls and easy walks until about the 4th section of narrows. We entered this bastard and I shit you not, we were squirming and snaking our way down and through these narrows for some number of hours. This shit went from fun to full on physical labor. Every time you would look down canyon you would see nothing but darkness. Every once in a while it would seem as if the walls were opening up and were finally going to get to walk on even ground, but it was lies… such malicious lies. At one point, nay, many points I was sure there was no way to keep moving. But we pushed on. Slithered on is a more apt description. Our clothes and tiny packs were taking a beating and the palms of our hands were just as thread bare. At one point my helmet would fit through and we had to get down on our knees to get past. At another point, it took me sucking back my gut as far as it could and still only scraping through… literally! I left stomach skin on the rock to prove it. This shit was bananas. After a while some concerns were beginning to take seed in my imagination. Just as you thought it couldn’t get any more skinny… it did. Finally, the canyon began to open and we meet the west fork. We think the rest is going to be cake but we soon find ourselves crawling over and under big rocks that somehow found their way into this mad little crack in the earth. Then it happens, we are faced with a large opening, the only way to go, and it is pitch black inside. I anxiously place my feet agains either side of the walls and press my arms against the top. my feet are about two and a half feet apart and the walls only widen as the cavity deepens. This means my friction is getting less and less reliable the further I descend. I reach a sandy bottom some 15 feet down and help Carole down and into this pit of despair. As we continue the walls begin to constrict again. Look up and all you see is rock. The walls curve over head so that only a faint sign that light still exists somewhere up there keeps a tiny flicker of hope alive. Keep edging onward, keep squeezing through. Push onward until… I look up and see the sky. Such small rewards yet the color blue has never seemed so comforting. We are at the bottom of the East fork. The canyon opens, it opens wider than we’ve experienced in hours. Its uplifting and then… then we are given one final obstacle to make sure we’ve tasted all the discomfort we could possible take. A large cave filled with water, we wade in as the water level reaches deeper and deeper. Thighs, waist, stomach… we are on the verge of swimming when ground begins pushing us up again and then suddenly we are out, we are at the mouth of the canyon. I am Jacks unwavering sense of accomplishment (see fightclub). But that shit was banana’s.

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