To the TOP we go!

(September)

Last weekend a bunch of us hiked the beautiful Mt. Timpanogas.  We got up early and left our children for the day.  We started hiking the beast and 6:30 in the morning.  It was very cool and the sun was just coming up.

 The trail was absolutely beautiful with waterfalls and wild flowers.

 This is our first of many stops.  Some of us were not in the best shape to do this:)

 Derek and I on the trail.

 The colors were amazing.  The views were just breathtaking.

Here we are at the glacier.  This is when we thought we were almost there and were totally shocked with how much more there was to go!  We all felt great and so excited, but were completely naive to what was to come next!

YEP!  Snow!  Not just snow though, ice.  Very slippery and dangerous ice!  I got made fun of quite a bit for wearing Chaco's.  The night before the hike, I tried on my shoes and they did not fit.  I guess pregnancy made my feet grow!  So, therefore, I was stuck wearing these!

 This was a really scary part.  We had to really work together to get across the ice so we didn't slide down the mountain.

 Then we had to walk along the rocks to get to the saddle.  At this point, Heather yelled out, "Is anyone having fun yet?!"  I think we were having fun:)

When we made it to the saddle, it didn't seem all that bad to get to the top, but we were very discouraged when we went around a corner and saw a ton of switch backs!

I was terrified of falling off these cliffs or watching someone else fall.

 Heather and I holding on!

 These switchbacks were rough.  It was really scary passing people.

We made it and were so happy to finally sit and enjoy the AMAZING view!  Absolutely BREATHTAKING!

 The whole gang.

 Derek on the very tippy top!

 On our way down.  Shantel decided to sled down!  It looked fun, but my feet were already wet and cold.  I didn't want to be wet and cold anywhere else!

 Justin's mission companion slid down this to save an hour.  When we got to the bottom of it, we were worried that he didn't make it because there were rescue teams stitching people up in the little shak.  We waited and watched all the people struggle down the glacier for about 20 minutes until someone found him just around the corner. He was asleep with shoes off and hat over his face!

 A caterpillar we found on the way down.

 The hike down was so hard.  We didn't get home until almost 7:00 at night.   The last few miles I was running because it felt better and I wanted to get home to my baby Zak.  We had such a good time!  We will probably do it again when we forget how painful it was and maybe I will get in a little bit better shape:)