that time we hiked timpanogos (a really big mountain)

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my try at impressionism (about 5:45am)
break time
happy hikers
the prettiest hike ever?
yes... that's the trail to the summit (or is it the trial?)
yep
the tooooop - 11,749 feet!emerald lake down belowboy on a big mountaincan you spot the mountain goats scaling the mountains? and the chipmunk? and the moose?
for a few years now, ben and i have been determined to hike mount timpanogos in utah - we've "tried" the last two summers we visited utah (it's best to hike it in the summer unless you want to hike in snow). but we couldn't find the time.
so this time. we decided we would take an extra day and devote it to mt timp. and it's a good thing we did reserve a whole day... because that's how long it took.

we got up at 3:45am on monday morning (and after some half-asleep negotiations with ben to get out of bed), we were on our way. driving up the mountain. parking nearish to the timpooneke trailhead.

let's fast forward.
when we finally made it back to the car after our 12 hour hike (what was expected to be around 7 hours)... ben said, "that was one of the hardest things i've ever done." i sort of burst into tears and said, "it was so hard!"
haaaa

i'd like to think the difficulty level was so high for us in particular because we live at sea level. the timpooneke trail starts at 7,000 feet elevation and the summit is nearly 12,000 feet elevation. 15 miles round trip.
yep.

the way up was hard and took long (we took a lot of good breaks). we even had some fellow hikers try to discourage us at about 6am - saying they had seen a "large animal" with "big eyes" when really all it was was a buck. come on people!
and the hike was just so pretty. evidence is above.

leading up the day of the hike, we kept saying to each other we'd try our best and if we didn't make it to the top top top, we would be ok. at least we'd make an effort.
but we were in the pretty plateau and saw the ridge and thought, we'll just do the ridge. and then once we were up there... it was like... ok we're almost to the summit. let's do this thing.

it was worth it. we made it. hell yeah.

and then somehow getting back down the mountain took almost as long as it did to get up. it sort of just kept going. we ran out of liquids (some "good samaritans" shared some of their water) but our legs were jello. and our entire bodies and souls, so tired.

it's all sort of a blur now, but we made it back. we ate our large fatty meal of cafe rio. we waddled around. we took an ice bath (oh yes, we did). and we're still pretty sore today (4 days later).

would i recommend the hike to you?
yes but only if...
you live at a high elevation (or are totally acclimatized to one). you bring lots and lots of water, snacks, gatorade, sunscreen, stamina. you bring a supportive companion. you love the mountains and hiking.