Mount Timpanogos Hike-Saturday June 30th

Bright and early 5:15 am 

♪All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go♫

We got up to the trail head and got started on our journey around 6:20 am. I was so happy to be able to get a parking spot at the trail head.  This hike is so popular and in past years we've had to park a lot further down the road and walk about a mile just to get started on the trail.

Doran, Jody, me

Jody bought a twisty little pink thing (tripod) that bends and twists to attach to stuff for taking photos.  Every time she pulled it out it reminded me of pink peanut butter cups.  Strange I know, but up close it really looked like them.

 Mile 1

We thought it would be fun to stop at each mile along the way and take a photo.  So be ready for some major photos of this hike.

 Mile 2
and loving the perfect cool morning weather for hiking.

Mile 3 
and getting warmer.  A little too sunny for my liking.

A kind gentlemen took pity on us and took our photo for us since we were struggling so much getting a decent photo at mile 3.

 Mile 4  
and still climbing!! Wait, this whole hike is a climb!

But we got to enjoy seeing all kinds of beautiful flowers along the trail.

This was the scariest part of the whole hike and these snow chunks are usually why I will wait until later in the year to hike when they are hopefully gone.  But with my crazy running schedule this Summer we just had to go this weekend so it would work for Jody and Doran as well.  Watching that man on the left in the red shirt and his little 3 year old boy cross the snow nearly made my heart stop working.  It's a pretty steep drop down this patch and I honestly don't know how that brave daddy did it.  He was literally holding the little boy by the arm and dangling him while trying not to slip off the front himself.  This snow wasn't very slushy like the snow closer to the top that had sun shining directly on it.  So, a couple of parts were pretty slick and I had a little trouble with my own footing.  Yeah, my adrenaline was pumping for a little while later.

 I never tire of seeing this peak or the glacier that people slide down on the left.  Definitely is something I won't ever be doing. 

 Jody and Doran coming back down a side trail after inspecting some bushes.

 Snack break while my friends are out inspecting those bushes.

Mile 5
and a perfect view of the glacier to the left.

Mile 6 and getting closer to the top.

I loved how these flowers were growing right up out of the rock

Getting closer to the top and crossing some slushy snow.  Good thing the sun was shining and keeping it soft.  Much easier crossing up here.  I was ready for a snowball fight and Jody was ready to lay down and make snow angels. Doran was just ready to keep going and get plastered by a snowball.  Too bad I couldn't throw that far. That big U shape in the distance is our destination.  If you look really close you can see many people already sitting up there.

We made it to the top in just a little under 4 hours.  Not too shabby!

I never tire of being up here and seeing this view.  Too bad it was so smoky from all the fires going on in Utah right now.

This little guy seemed to want to come over and visit until I tried to get close to him.

OK, see ya later little fella.

After relaxing and eating our lunch it was time to get back down the mountain.  My scheduled run for the day was to be 8 miles so I was planning to run down as much as I could.  Jody and Doran wanted to join me as well which I was pretty happy about.  They both are pretty speedy and it was me trying to play catch up to them most of the time.  After a few miles they were done running so I would run ahead and then when there were a few flat parts I would run back up the trail until I saw them and then turn around and keep going.  Since it was only slightly under 6 and 1/2 miles one way I was going to have to make up mileage.  Then Jody had the most brilliant idea.  She suggested that once we get back to the car that Doran and I could keep running and she would drive the car down the canyon.  SMART!  So that's what we did.

 This is a view of the mountain we just came down off of.

Running down the mountain in 85 degree weather and trying to catch Doran.

 Doran is too fast for me to keep up with.  But, I have a hard time keeping up with anyone so that's nothing new.

Doran makes it seem so effortless!

 Jody was the perfect support vehicle.  She wouldn't go too far ahead, she handed me water out the window, she asked me if I wanted candy, and she would take photos.  What more could a runner want?

 Soooooo incredibly hot and just about ready to climb into the car. Yeah, I feel as bad as this picture looks!

Out of the 16 miles traveled today I'm not sure how many miles I ran but for sure I got my 8 miles in and possibly a little more.

 On our way home we stopped and bought bagged ice so we could soak our sore, tired muscles in the bathtub.  After we got cleaned up we headed to Costa Vida for dinner!  Sweet pork salad hit the spot!! I had a blast today and love to hike Timpanogos.  I'm so glad my Brigham City friends could join me.  I would love to hike this mountain again before Summer is over and could easily be persuaded to go if anyone is raring to go!