Saturday was a grand ol’ day of hiking Mt. Timanogos (11,749 feet). After a quick nap after work for some (but none for me) we started our hike from Timpanookee campground in American Fork canyon.
3am. With headlamps to guide us and Denver (Colby’s dog) to lead the way on the trail, we made our way through the pitch black slopes of the mountain. The weather was good, the pace was relatively steady. We focused on the trail and the feet in front of us, occasionally stopping to avoid Denver’s small squirts along the way (which were not few in number). Not being able to see much around us the time passed quickly. Soon we found that we were into the upper valley and a faint monolith of the peak could be faintly viewed. As we looked around we saw in the distance several groups making there way up along the ridgeline. All that could be seen were small headlamps that looked like far off stars that had fallen out of the sky dotting the mountainside.
7 am. Four hours into our hike. We looked to the east and saw the faintest sign that the sun would soon be rising. We were still determined to get to the ridge before the sun popped his head over the horizon so we quickened our pace as we entered the steepest part of the trail thus far. The early morning light was growing by the minute. Up the hillside. After four hours Denver was still the fastest one and seemed to want to get to the top as much as we did.
7:45 When we made it up to the saddle we were rewarded with a brilliant view of the valley that was well worth the effort. A moment or two later we saw the sun come up over the distant ridges. It was pretty incredible sight.
After a moment or two of photo taking, we headed up the rocky face to the summit. 8:00am On the top of Timpanogos there is a small tin shack and a whole bunch
of wind. It was pretty chilly, so we didn’t stay to long (and we wanted to catch up to Kendel and Courtney who turned around before the ridge). Coming down off the mountain afforded great views that we had missed in the darkness on the way up; it seemed like a completely different area. We made it down in a speedy 2 ½ hou
rs.
After I got home I crashed into bed for a quick 2 hour nap before going to the BYU football game with Dad (which was a lot of fun too) to cheer on the cougars. (Now that I’m graduated I feel I can root for them if they aren’t playing the Utes). A good day.
3am. With headlamps to guide us and Denver (Colby’s dog) to lead the way on the trail, we made our way through the pitch black slopes of the mountain. The weather was good, the pace was relatively steady. We focused on the trail and the feet in front of us, occasionally stopping to avoid Denver’s small squirts along the way (which were not few in number). Not being able to see much around us the time passed quickly. Soon we found that we were into the upper valley and a faint monolith of the peak could be faintly viewed. As we looked around we saw in the distance several groups making there way up along the ridgeline. All that could be seen were small headlamps that looked like far off stars that had fallen out of the sky dotting the mountainside.
7 am. Four hours into our hike. We looked to the east and saw the faintest sign that the sun would soon be rising. We were still determined to get to the ridge before the sun popped his head over the horizon so we quickened our pace as we entered the steepest part of the trail thus far. The early morning light was growing by the minute. Up the hillside. After four hours Denver was still the fastest one and seemed to want to get to the top as much as we did.7:45 When we made it up to the saddle we were rewarded with a brilliant view of the valley that was well worth the effort. A moment or two later we saw the sun come up over the distant ridges. It was pretty incredible sight.
After a moment or two of photo taking, we headed up the rocky face to the summit. 8:00am On the top of Timpanogos there is a small tin shack and a whole bunch
of wind. It was pretty chilly, so we didn’t stay to long (and we wanted to catch up to Kendel and Courtney who turned around before the ridge). Coming down off the mountain afforded great views that we had missed in the darkness on the way up; it seemed like a completely different area. We made it down in a speedy 2 ½ hou
rs.After I got home I crashed into bed for a quick 2 hour nap before going to the BYU football game with Dad (which was a lot of fun too) to cheer on the cougars. (Now that I’m graduated I feel I can root for them if they aren’t playing the Utes). A good day.
2 comments:
fun hike! I havent ever done it at night. Im going to do the mountain behind my house here in the next while. I googled it and it is 7 miles to the summit from my house so it wont be a walk in the park.
Those are awesome pictures. I've never been up there at sunrise...seeing those almost convinces me that I should...almost, but I'm pretty much a complete wimp and get really scared in the dark in the woods. uuhhh...yeah, it's giving me the chilly willy shivers just thinking about it.
-Nif
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