More Summer Fun

One of the best parts about living in Utah is exploring the surrounding mountains.  I never really considered myself a hiker or outdoors person.  I love camping and campfires and all that, but mostly just grew up exploring suburbia.  That has certainly changed and our summers (and springs & falls) now contain many, many hikes and outdoor explorations.

One of our favorite places to hike is Rock Canyon.  We basically live at it's mouth, and it's a relatively easy hike.  Most years the stream in it is dry until you go up a few miles, but every now and then you'll get extra snow-melt and a raging river that flows straight into Rock Canyon bowl park.  (Like the year we first moved here.)

We have favorite stopping points, like this rock, and the kids are always eager to find new things to do or find as we go.

 

 This past summer, we got really interested in local caves and found this little one just off the trail in RC.  It was barely deeper than a few feet in, but a good starting experience for our kids.  Some of them were really nervous about the dark and close walls, but they all decided to go in and had fun.  (Until I pointed out the cave crickets clinging to the ceiling, then they ran out screaming.)

Adia's X-country team hiked the backside of Timpanogos (the Timpanooke trail).  We didn't get very far, especially considering we took the wrong trail for most of the time.  Derek & I were especially sad because we had been training for and planning to hike to the summit of Timp.  It wasn't to be this time, but we did have a lot of fun with the kids.

As part of our preparation for hiking Timp, we started hiking to the Y (for BYU) 3-4 nights a week.  We would get the kids to bed (I LOVE having kids old enough to babysit!), then take the pup out for a night hike.  The picture above shows off when the lights were on around the Y for the August graduation.

One thing we noticed was how many tarantulas were on the trail!  Big and little, they were seen nearly nightly.  Apparently we had hit breeding season.

You can see the dutiful mommy above carrying her babies on her back till they are old enough to care for themselves.  I'm not in love with bugs, especially venomous ones, but it was pretty fun to see these hairy little dudes.  So we made a pet of one of the males for a month, then released him back on the trail before frost set in so he could find a burrow.

Finally the day came that we could hike Timp.  We set off around midnight with two of my brothers who had hiked it before.

We took the harder of the two trails, the one coming from Aspen Grove.  (Next year, we'll try Timpanooke and hopefully save our knees).  It was lovely, especially since we got to pass Stewart Falls in all of it's icy cold glory.

We couldn't have picked a better day to go.  It had rained the day before and cooled the temperatures down significantly, so we could hike without getting too hot.  Because it was a dry year, there was almost no snow at Emerald Lake.  We spotted a few campers along the way. 

We finally made it to the shack at the top.  It was gloriously graffitied and smelled of urine.  (Go figure.)  But it was a break from the FREEZING cold wind that came up from the ridgeline and a symbol of our conquering the mountain!

A view looking toward the saddle  The clouds were amazing how they gusted up and over the ridge.  Hiking Timp was one of the hardest things I've ever done, but made me feel so alive.  It was so beautiful it hurt.  I can't wait to do it again!