Neon

First keeper was easy to escape independently. Swam over the second one. Lots of cold water. Multiple swims. Wetsuits mandatory. Beautiful and interesting canyon. Last big repel was a hoot and the highlight of our trip. At the time of this visit, the anchors looked pretty new.

Swam over both keepers. Definitely in easy mode right now, as the first keeper is skippable anyway, and the seconds lip was under 6ft of water. No wetsuits worn, or needed. Water temps were amazing.

Rats nests of webbing on everything. Cleaned up quite a bit, but still lots to be removed.

Still pretty hot down there hiking out in the early afternoon.

HITR road is in great condition, and Egypt road has a couple tricky spots, although still passable with a Subaru Forester.

Water levels are definitely down in Neon. The area has seen a lot of water as of late, but Neon hasn’t received quite as much. The first keeper was visible but doable for just about anyone. Other parts of the canyon are full, some are very low. Swam over second keeper. Things could get better or worse in the coming weeks. Be smart! 7 hours from the car and back for the full trip. A tip I have with Neon is to look at the confluence and river level coming in and look for any signs of water. If things look dry heading in just be prepared to escape a pothole and consider not pulling your ropes.

Did full canyon. Tons of water. Canyon looked like it had flashed days before. No wetsuits worn. Multiple long sections of swimming.

Did the full meal-deal. The first half of the canyon up to the sport entrance had almost no water. First keeper was very low, up to the waist. Most of us stemmed over but one man got in and said the water wasn't too cold. 2nd half had some water but only one spot that required swimming. 2nd keeper is full swimmer and quite warm. None of us used wetsuits. Storms might change things soon, however.

Did the sport entrance as we had a larger, less experienced group of 9. Water was generally low. There were no long swims. Roughly thigh high water. The last pothole was full of water and we just swam across. The water was cold, but not excessively so. Wetsuits were optional and two went through without them. 14 hours car to car, with an hour spent at the Cathederal and another hour at the river before hiking out.

Water levels have dropped. The first keeper pothole will require a pack toss or a rappel using the single bolt high on the left. The second keeper pothole was full and we swam over it. Still enough swims near the end of the canyon that you'll want a wetsuit. We started at the Egypt trailhead and went car to car in 9 hours with a group of 8 people.

Started from Fence camp. Walk-in start, above the confluence. Plenty of cold water with swimming but was very comfortable in my 4/3mm Hyperflex Voodoo. Easily swam over last keeper and never saw the other potential keeper. 4.5 hours Fence to Fence with 3 people.

We were able to swim over both keeper potholes. Most of us had 3mm wetsuits and were fairly cold by the time we made it through to the golden cathedral. I would recommend at least a 7mm wetsuit for this time of year. Small 20 ft rappel before the golden cathedral had a sketchy anchor setup with a lot of slack in it. We didn't have enough time to reset it.

Lots of water in Neon, with an easy swim across both keepers. Water was cold, but 5mm wet suits kept us happy, 2 people in 2.5mm suits were cold. The final rap had quite a cluster of webbing and rope jumbled together into an anchor so we cleaned it up and left 2 webbing slings as redundant anchors. Had quite the audience watch us rappel the cathedral. 9 hours car to car (from end of egypt road)

Canyon was full of water after the storms that went through mid week. Swam over both potholes. Four people, 9 hours round trip from the Egypt trailhead. Two of us had full wetsuits(4/3mm, 5mm) and felt great the whole time. Two had 3mm farmer john style wetuits and got cold a few times on the long swims. Standard entrance.

Dropped in at "The More Fun Route" drop based on Tom's beta. Suite at first big puddle and swam a couple of long nice sections - some log soup and extra flavor in the water. Later there was a nice pool in the open canyon for jumps. At first rap into the lower narrows, some waders quick swimmers. Big pothole was full with clean water - got several jumps in. We had talked to some locals at the coffee shop in Boulder who said that it had rained heavy a week before and that there were not hot temps during the week. Maybe this is useful to try and gauge the water levels in this area when few posts have been made.

Still very full of water. No keeper issues. Most of our group had shorty wet suits and stayed warm.

Both keepers are swims: long way to go for the big one to be back in keeper mode.

Great canyon; I imagine it's super short if you come in the traditional entrance though.

Fun, fun, fun! Canyon pretty full. We hand-lined 2 sections and didn't put our harnesses until the final rappel through the cathedral

No keeper for us.

We dropped in to the canyon at N37° 37.317' W111° 09.367'. The canyon was pretty full and did have a few swims. Swam over the top of both keepers, if you didn't know where they were you wouldn't even know they existed. We wore 3mm suits and were comfortable through out the canyon. The pool at the bottom of the cathedral was maybe 4-5 feet deep.

If anyone one finds my GoPro Hero4 in the 2nd keeper let me know!! Send me the memory card and you can keep the camera. Thanks

Canyoneer989@gmail.com

Super full of water, long corridors of swimming, bring the fins. Used the Fork Chop entrance, great skinny sections with lots of water too. Both potholes were in "hightide" mode and not even visible to know a keeper was in route. With high water, only one rappel- the last. 3 massive runners, looks solid. 4/3 wetsuit and 5mm booties perfect all day.

Neon/Golden Cathedral was full of water. Most of the canyon was a full swim. The canyon was so full of water we swam over the keeper hole. Final Rappel into water was about 5'6 feet of water. I didn't wear a wetsuit, water wasn't cold. Outside temp was 92 degrees. The rest of the group wore 3/2 wetsuits.

The canyon was full. Dropped in at upper drop (UTM 12 S 0485991 mE 4164150 mN) and were wading immediately. The slot above that point looked like it had water in it for some ways. Down canyon we waded to neck deep. The first pothole was full and swam over it and for very long ways (500y?). Lower slot was full and swam over the second pothole. Two in the group 3/2 shortie and farmer john. Lower slot was slightly cold but we were comfortable. From drop in it only took us 2 hours to the Cathedral. Great conditions for the heat.

Very full of water. First keeper 18 inches above lip; second keeper we couldn't figure out where the lip might be, somewhere underneath a pile of water. Many longish and fun swims in the corridors. The water was a nice temperature until closer to the Golden Cathedral, when it got cooler. Most used 3mm farmer john wetsuits and were happy. We used the direct cross-country route described by RoadTripRyan to get down to the Escalante; the route-finding was straightforward and clear trails are present in many places. Note that the walk-in side canyon described in most beta is pretty skinny. Our larger canyoneers were wishing they had rapped right into Neon.