Hiking Mount Timpanogas

The boys and I decided to retry our failed attempt of last summer to summit Timp.  We set out in the wee hours of the morning for our adventure.  The beauty of this hike is indescribable.  The steepness of this hike and the length and the brutality of it is also indescribable.  The going up is pretty tiring, but doable.  And long.  And then you get to the summit (or for some of us the saddle) and you are really tired and you realize you have about 8 miles down, down, down.  Anyway....

 First falls is the first landmark:

So many wildflowers.  So beautiful:

 Second Falls:

 Then the long switchbacks:

It is so pretty it almost looks fake:

 Tucker caught this deer on camera:

 We finally made it past the switchbacks:

 Our hike photographer:

 We made it to Emerald Lake.  It is so incredibly crystal clear.  Spectacular:

 The warming hut:

 This is near a narrow cliff side path.  Scary for me:

 It was slow going across the snow field.  At the end came a steep scramble up to the saddle.  I don't enjoy steep scrambles, but Tucker encouraged me, and I did it.  It wasn't graceful or pretty, but I did it.  Glad he made me:

 The destination is in view.  The high peak:

 At last we made it to the Saddle.  Spectacular.  We noticed from there you couldn't see any of the temples.  Isn't that weird?  I guess you can only see them from the top.  From the saddle it's one more mile up:

 My fear of heights didn't allow me to step onto this last portion of the trail.  Seriously was having an anxiety attack.  I let the boys go on without me.  Maybe next time I'll take a xanax.  The boys saw a mama goat with her baby, and while I waited another goat came trotting by:

 Tucker forgot to take a picture at the very top, but the boys made it:

 And then we headed back down:

 There were lots of shell fossils in the boulder field.  Very cool: 

Going down is brutal.  We were EXHAUSTED.  And my knees were so stiff they could hardly move.  And it turns out Anders did the whole thing with a hole in the toe of his shoe!!!  And I may have cried a little towards the end.  And I may have had to be assisted out of my car by my sisters on my return.  But I am SO glad we did it.  It is one of the most spectacular places I've ever been and I'm glad I got to do it with Tucker and Anders who are rock stars that NEVER complain, even when they are exhausted and battered: