On the Wednesday of our Aspen Grove week, Melissa and I (as well as Iris, Mike and Andy) were able to leave early in the morning for an all-day hike/climb up Mt Timpanogos, the second highest peak in the Wasatch range. It’s a pretty serious climb. Aspen Grove is at approximately 6,850 feet above sea level and the mountain peak is approximately 11,750 above sea level. The trail is estimated between 8 and 9 miles each way. After a few miles, the rest of the group wanted to move faster, so Melissa and I hung behind and took our time moving up the trail. It was really nice to spend that time together. We saw beautiful waterfalls, lakes, rock walls and herds of mountain goats. A few small glaciers were challenging for Mel because she only had tennis shoes on. Without traction, walking up icy snow can take some determination.We reached the peak around 1:00 and ate lunch, then decided to take the “quick” route down by sliding down the southern glacier on our rear ends. We knew this was a risk, especially in August, with rocks poking out of the snow, etc. Turns out they have a lot of injuries (some serious) up there every year. So in hind sight, I don’t know that I recommend it to all…but man, it was a real blast. Looking down at that glacier from the top, knowing I have to take the plunge, was pretty scary. So steep, without knowing when I would actually be able to stop myself. Not to mention I was in light shorts and a t-shirt, so my rear would be soaked and numb quickly. But we did it. Once I went down and was able to stop myself after only 100 feet or so, Melissa gave it a shot. Man, if I only had video of that! When she went, she started flip-flopping crazily as she gained speed, so snow was flying everywhere, but I could see her legs and hair whipping wildly in the “flurryball” she was creating. Seriously, it was straight out of a cartoon or something. I was standing in the middle of the run with intentions to try to stop her, but once she got to me and I could see she was fine, I jumped out of the way so she could zip past. The rest of the glacier trip down was a blast, too…between rump-riding and walking some sections. I would say it was the highlight of the hike. We both have minor scrapes and bruises to prove it! I smashed my thigh against a big nasty rock and Melissa got a mystery scrape on her arm…it’s a mystery because she was wearing clothing over it which did not get ripped. Hhhmmm. Fishy. But the biggest mystery is how my camera survived. After I was so disappointed that I hadn’t shot video of Melissa coming off the glacier lip, I decided to tape myself rump-riding. It started out fine, but I got moving quickly and lost my handle on the camera. It fell in the snow just a few feet in front of my feet. But the camera was moving at exactly same speed that I was, so it just continued in front of me, while I was yelling and lamenting that I had just ruined my camera and I can’t even reach it because it’s moving at my same speed. It was still capturing video when I dropped it, so all you see is sky and you hear me in the background saying “Oh no! My camera!” Over and over again. It was getting covered with snow, thus thoroughly drenched. Miraculously, it survived. I am still in shock about it. That thing breaks with the slightest provocation (it’s been in for repairs many times), but for whatever reason, it lived to take more pics…even immediately after the “slide” down the glacier.
Once we got down to Emerald lake, the hike took on an endurance feel to it, as the trail just seemed to stretch out forever and like we might never reach the end! But we got back to the lodge around 5:30 pm, so overall we enjoyed almost 11 hours of good times together on the mountain. Glad we didn’t get injured (other than the sore muscles).
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