My dear sweet husband has wanted to hike Mt. Timpanogos since I've known him. Not the paved trail up to the cave... The back side of Timp. He has wanted to take the two older boys for awhile. He didn't make it up last summer and was determined to make it this summer. He invited me to go and he really wanted me to go with him so I acquiesced.
Earl was probably the most physically prepared but had not really made this a focus. I was not prepared at all. But, we gathered up our gear and headed out. We got a late start but the weather was perfect. It was July 11th and the weather was overcast with occasional sprinkles. I was grateful it wasn't full sun.
It was too early in the season for this hike. We had to traverse a lot of snow. I had some great, water proof hiking boots on but the boys were in sneakers. They were slipping and sliding all over the place.
I think I had fun the first 10 miles. We were enjoying the scenery, the fresh air and the small wild life. We met other hikers, scout groups and runners and it was fun.
When we got closer to the saddle, the snow was really bad. The trail literally disappeared under the snow pack. It was very physically grueling to ascend this particular stretch of the mountain. It is very steep right before the saddle and there are usually a series of switch backs. They were buried. We had to find our own way across. To make matters worse, in some areas the snow ended with a drop off. Our boys had been sliding all over the place. I was worried and tired and my body was just about done. But we pushed on. We all made it to the saddle. It was beautiful and sunny and I promptly sat down to take a much needed rest.Earl and Ben decided to go for the peak. Matt and I hung at the saddle, resting and visiting with other hikers. While they were gone a storm started to roll in. It was dark and very rainy and you could see the lightning coming in from the south. I started to worry. We had a long hike back and we needed to get off the mountain. I got anxious for the boys to return. They seemed to take forever.
On their way back, a mountain goat jumped across the trail about 10 feet in front of them. It was a pretty awesome sight. The beauty of it, however, was lost on me. I was convinced we would be caught in a terrible storm if we didn't leave now. I was primarily worried about climbing down the snow pack in rain. It didn't sound fun or safe.
As soon as Earl and Ben made it back to the saddle, we started heading for home. I didn't even get one picture of us at the saddle together. On a very cool note, Ben was the first 9 year old to hike to the peak this season.
The hike back was long. My knee started hurting, the boys were completely out of juice and we all felt bruised and beaten by the time we made it back. I was wasted and hungry.
Even though it was late, we were all tired and decided to go to dinner. We asked Beth and Jacob to join us and we went to Los Hermanos. We were all so tired, I thought I was going to fall asleep at the table. We had a good time and we were all ready for bed by the time we got home.
