| A few minutes later, and I am off as well, just carrying water. Gotta tell you, running up to the West Rim after doing Heaps kinda hurt. My time was 3 hours, 10 minutes.
Imlay was fine. We got through the upper canyon and down to the Crossroads with light still left. Headlamps on, we entered the first of the 'Extreme Narrows' just as it got fully dark. The First Narrows was in good shape and we made good time. A hook move here, a little throw-to-guided-rappel there - all good. At the break we took a break and relaxed a bit. On schedule.
We suited back up and charged onward. After 20 hours on the go, our bodies were slowing down, and we struggled to warm up again, after the break. Then we got to the first big pothole. Ooops, the water level is down, way down. We felt a little exposed, standing there. Not a good place to bivy. We had some gear, but not a lot. I tried throwing, missing 6 times in a row. Stevee hit it first try.
At the next pothole, our brains were fried. I think we stood there for 5 minutes, just looking forlorn. Well, if the water is down, that means the bottom is up. We charged in, used a little partner assist. Worked our way through the difficulties. Clearly, we were slowing down, not quite as snappy as at the beginning of the day.
If this was a story, something dramatic would have happened right here. Thankfully, it did not. We got to the last rappel, rapped to the Narrows, picked up the gear and started hiking. The Narrows hike was slow, we were fried. We stumble out to the road. Steve and Sharon are there, with cold pizza, which we devour.
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