The Duck Nest: August 2015

Saturday, August 22, 2015

Taylor and I wanted to do one last adventure before he starts school next week.
We decided to hike Mt. Timpanogos on the Timpooneke Trail.

To do this we packed light-weight, calorie loaded food with 2-liters of water in our backpacks.
But carrying the packs wasn't the hardest part...waking up at 5:30 am to do work our butts off was. Ugh!

Leaving our home at 6:30 am.

There is Timpanogos Mountain on the right. It's higher than any in Salt Lake and Utah County, and 3rd highest in Utah.

On the way there, we were able to see the smoky sunrise.

Can you find our destination? The pointy peak in the distance is the highest point of the mountain.

We started the trail at 8:10 am. Do you like our hats? We probably received 30 or so comments about them, and how hard it must be to be married.

20 minutes into the hike, and we're already getting great scenery.

Look at all the smoke from the wildfires in the mountains.

The trail was really pretty.

Lots of little rivers and waterfalls to cross.

After an hour, we could see the peaks adjacent to Timpanogos. Hard to believe we would be looking down on them in a few hours.

Weird rocky bumps on the trail.

The first Basin. Soon we would be on top of it in a meadow.

There were lots of weird stones within a stone like this one all over the mountain.

Taylor likes staring at them.

Getting higher! We made it to the top of the Basin.

I think it's time for a rice krispy break!

It's nice to stop and enjoy the view...plus, eating is the only thing that will get Taylor to stop.

Already higher than those peaks mentioned earlier.

Right around this bend we were rewarded with...

The peak! After 2.5 hours of hiking, we got our first view of the summit.

Peak of Timpanogos.

The meadow below the peak.

Our legs were pretty dirty by now.

To get to the summit, we first had to climb to the Saddle, which is on top of the mountain ridge, and gives you a great view of the Valley.

Resting before our big trip to the Saddle.

Almost a panoramic view of the meadow below the summit.

We hiked from the ledge on the left.

My back started to hurt, so my buff hubby carried my pack also. He's the nicest.

Taylor pretended to be pregnant. "Carry that weight, boy!"

Almost to the Saddle!

And we made it!

To celebrate our success, we took an hour break and ate peaches, almonds, and sausage!

Gave our feet some rest.

Utah Valley and Utah Lake in the distance.

However, the Saddle is not the end. The peak is. Just one hour away. Let's go!

The peak is the summit on the left.

It was so cold and windy near the top, we had to put our jackets on.

Quite the trail, eh?!

We had to climb the rocks to get to where we needed to go.

Just 20 minutes left to go! We can finally see the house on the peak!

SUCCESS! We finally made it to the top. It was 1:00 pm. Hiking for 5 hours.

Here's our view.

Can you find the trail we walked from the Saddle?

We signed our names in the book in the house.

Yup, my man is happy.

Here is the view of the other side. There is usually tons of snow leading to Emerald Lake. People even slide down it sometimes. But with our bad winter and hot summer, it's mostly gone.

Standing tall on the peak!

On the way down, we took a "shortcut" from the Saddle to save our knees. It ended up being the wrong trail. Instead, we were on the trail Taylor did as a Boy Scout 12 years ago. He still remembered how to get back on the trail we came up. However, getting there wasn't easy.