Last summer Tom hiked Mount Timpanogos with his brother Jeff and friend Spencer, and ever since, he’s been wanting to make it an annual tradition. This summer flew by for us, but toward the end of August, we thought it was something that we really should do (and thereby make it an annual event!). We set a date and decided to hike Timp on Saturday, September 1st. It was quite the hike, but at the end of the day, we loved the feeling of accomplishment we got from literally climbing the mountain in front of us!
Saturday, September 1st was going to be perfect weather for the hike– not too cold but not too hot — so it seemed like a great idea. The day started early for us when our alarms went off about 5:00am. We got all ready to go and made it up to the trailhead about 7:00am. Thankfully Grandpa Will had stayed at our house the night before so he was able to watch Isaac when we went. When we got to the trailhead, it was pretty chilly! We were bundled up and began our trek up.
The trail was SUPER busy as it was a very popular weekend to make the hike — the last weekend of summer and Labor Day weekend. We crossed paths with a lot of people on our way up and down, but at one point we came across pretty much everyone stopped on the trail. It was then that we realized there were two big moose right on the trail! Moose can be super scary and aggressive, so we waited for them to pass and then tried to sneak by. Once we did, it was cool to see them and snap a picture!
We continued up the trail and there were so many beautiful views along the way! It definitely made the 6 mile, uphill trek worth it!
We reached the top about noon and stopped to have a picnic lunch. We’d packed sandwiches and fruit and chips, and it was nice to take off our shoes and take a break. The mountains weren’t quite as blooming as last year when Tom hiked Timp, probably because of the hot weather and lack of rain and all the fires in the mountains, but it was still really pretty! It was crazy to actually be up on top of Timp!
Toward the top, we even saw some mountain goats climbing along the cliffs of the mountains. How they do so is CRAZY! They are incredible animals and it was fun to sit and watch them for a while. A couple of them even got pretty close to us, which made for some neat pictures!
After resting at the top for a bit, we started our trek back. There were very few people we came across on the way down, so the trail was pretty easy. I wasn’t feeling too well so we had to make periodic stops to rest, and at one point I wasn’t sure how I was going to make it! (Hiking Timp during the first trimester of pregnancy is probably not the best idea!) Anyway, we were sitting on a rock at one point after I’d thrown up a bit, and then a father and his son started passing us. As they did, we heard the father telling his son that Heavenly Father sometimes puts mountains in our paths to show us how strong we are as we’re able to climb them. He also said that Heavenly Father will strengthen and help us as we climb the mountains and that we can find blessings in every trial. I realize this is a silly little thing, since I knew I’d actually make it down the mountain and wasn’t really concerned, but I did know it would be tricky and so hearing this was an answer to prayers! It was a neat moment and a reminder to me that the Lord loves and is aware of me and our little family. Then, as we started getting back to the start of the trail, we came across this same father and son. I then shared with them about how they’d been an answer to my prayers, and the father then shared that by my sharing this, I was an answer to theirs! He said he’d been questioning whether or not he should’ve brought his son on this hike, and by knowing he was able to share a message that touched me (which I then shared back with them), he knew he’d done the right thing. It was a very special moment we shared right there on the mountain and I’m so thankful for the tender mercies the Lord puts in our paths, especially at tough moments!
On our way up, we had seen what we called the “3-mile tree,” which was a tree three miles into the trail letting you know you’d come three miles. We were watching for it on our way back so we knew when we had only three miles left, but we never came across it. At one point, we were actually getting scared because we were afraid we’d come across it and still have three miles to go, even though we were hoping we were getting close to the start of the trail! Thankfully we just missed it… I don’t know what we would’ve done to have run into it after all that!
We made it down to the end of the trail about 4:00, and we were both EXHAUSTED! It felt great to do and we were so glad we did it, but wow… It will probably take us a year to recover before we do it again! (Also, I don’t think I’ll do it again pregnant… That was crazy!) It was awesome though and so satisfying. We definitely plan to make this an annual tradition for our family and look forward to taking our kids up Timp someday with us!
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