We woke up at 1AM. We were at the trailhead around 3AM. The canyon approach was nine miles – mostly in the dark. First rappel at 6:30AM. First of five narrows by 8:30AM. There were at least 25 keeper potholes. Half of those required buddy assists, pack tosses and some thought (which wasn’t easy after four hours of sleep and icy water). The Ranger said it was the hardest conditions he had heard of. Nine and a half hours after entering Heaps Canyon we were sitting at the top of the three-stage 500 ft rappel. It was pouring rain, thunder and lightning were bickering overhead and the wind was raging. We waited an hour and the wind died down. We all got down safely.