Timpanogos Hike #3-Conference Weekend

I finally got me a garmin forerunner 305! It's been a lot of fun tracking my running speeds and distances even though I'm still pretty slow. I know I'll never be fast but it's been fun seeing what this old body can do.

So, I pretty much love Mount Timpanogos.  I always have, even from the moment our family moved to this valley back in 1977 when I was but a young girl at the age of 11. (oops I just told how old I am)  My first adventure hiking this mountain was with a youth conference group when I was 14.  I have been fascinated with hiking this mountain ever since.

Porter has hiked this mountain a few times with me and was always so fast.  I could never keep up with him and usually got left behind with the group.  He would dash ahead with his friends and see us at the top.  Him and a friend, Brian Farnworth hiked this mountain one evening by themselves a few years ago and said they wanted to watch the sunrise.  So they took off around 10 pm one night.  It was a little after midnight and I got a phone call from him that they were at the top.  I was stunned!! He had made it in less than two hours.  I was literally blown away at how fast he could ascend that mountain. So, since they didn't want to wait on the top of a mountain all night long waiting for the sun, they turned around and came home.

Now......the reason for this hike and post.  Since hike #2 this year to the bomber was super challenging and didn't allow us to climb to the valley overlook, I decided I wanted to hike again and go to the top.  I also decided I wanted to be like Porter and see how fast I could hike this mountain.  I knew I would need to do this alone so as to be able to go at a pace that worked for me.  I also felt like sitting on top of a mountain would be a wonderful place to listen to General Conference. 

Here I am just about 20 minutes before the sun rose.

Here I am at the fork in the trail where you can go right and head to the saddle or turn left and go to Emerald Lake.

I made it to the top!

My fun, fancy watch! So, the exciting thing for me was reaching the top in 2 hours and 28 minutes, with a distance of 6.09 miles.  I know it wasn't as fast as Porter could do it but I was sure trying!

Listening to conference and enjoying the surrounding views!

At lunch time I had a little companion wanting to join me, ever so cautiously though.

The colors this time of year were so brilliant and beautiful.

I made it back to the bottom with only a slight glitch by kicking a rock near the bottom, which has turned into a lovely bruise and making me walk more like a little old lady for real now. Oh, such is life.

Round trip was 4 hours 17 minutes with a total of 12.43 miles. 

Since this hike at the beginning of October the mountain has received some hefty snowfall.  I am anxious to get up there one more time before Winter hits and have been gratefully enjoying the last few warms days as I watch the snow slowly melting.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed.