Mount Timpanogos Hike

It's been years since I've hiked to the summit of Mount Timpanogos. I've vowed to hike it for the last 4-5 years, but end up letting each year slip away. My friend at work invited me to hike Timp and this was what I needed to finally do it.

We arrived at the Timpooneke trail head just after 6 AM to find a jammed-full parking lot. We did some creative parking and set off. It was cool, but I was comfortable in shorts and a short-sleeved shirt.

Not far from the trail head, this is the view up the trail. Getting to the top of this cirque (Scout Falls) was the first objective.


We crossed several streams long the way.


Not a bad looking trail, eh?


The next objective would be getting above those steps.


Plenty of wildflowers in bloom and the variety changed as we went higher. Blue was the theme here.


We crossed a few snowfields that are covering the trail - this was the largest one. The Spring snow tasted good - like a snowcone.


The trail climbs up to this saddle of the ridge that leads to the summit, which you can see upper left.


Looking north you can see the trail we just came up.


Above the saddle I saw a lot of this delicate-looking flower.


Looking south toward Cascade Mountain from the summit.


Me on the summit with Utah Lake in the background.


I arrived at the summit just before 11 AM and called home (spotty cell service but it worked). We sat and ate some food and enjoyed the view. Often it's very windy, but today there was only a gentle breeze.

The usual route is to continue south along the summit ridge and descend the large snowfield above Emerald Lake. But we reversed course and went down the way we came up.

My feet did OK. I stopped to change into some thicker socks since I was feeling some rubbing on the my heel and wanted to avoid a blister. My legs did OK too - just a little soreness in the quads. I was concerned about my knees on the way down, but they did OK.

I really enjoyed the hike. It was fun to do something different than cycling.

P.S. After the hike I lounged around the house and took a nap. But in the evening I went for a short mountain bike ride up in the foothills. I wanted to see what it felt like to ride after a long hike. Despite the general tiredness, I did OK and had a pretty fun ride climbing up to the Altar and rolling down Betty. But I'm afraid this shows just how addicted I am to cycling.

5 comments:

Ski Bike Junkie said...

I need to hike Timp again. I also need to go to Albion Basin soon before all the flowers are gone. Amazing how much free time cycling consumes and I don't even think about what else there is to do.

JoshuaMcC said...

You know,.. I have lived in it's shadow for 33 years and I have never hiked Timp. I can't decide if I should be ashamed, or see if I can make it 50.

zim said...

Is the snowfield still "slideable"?
My son wants to hike timp this weekend.

KanyonKris said...

By "snowfield" I assume you mean the big one south of Emerald Lake. It's still big right now and certainly slideable. I didn't go down that way though. Be careful, most injuries occur there - usually because sliders get going too fast and hit a rock or a hole in the snow.

I tried to slide down the little snowfield across the trail on my butt, but it didn't work that well. I kind of skied down it on my feet.

DJ said...

Good job Kris!
Please let me know when you'r ready for some backpacking.