Mt. Timpanogos

I went on a smashtastic hike last weekend up Mt. Timpanogos. There were waterfalls, beautiful valleys hidden in the mountain, wildflowers and relief from the heat in the valley. There was also lots of horse poop, but that wasn't a highlight. Though, at times, from my fatigue and sore backs of my knees, it made me think how I wished we had horses. When we finally reached the top, we could see the urban sprawl over the whole valley. Amazing. Utah Lake looked HUGE.

Parts of the hike were treacherous. I don't like hiking across narrow stretches covered in rocks and snow. There's no firm footing to be had there. I'm also afraid of heights, which makes most hiking experiences a bit of an adventure for me. You see, I have no problem going up. It's only the prospects of how I'm going to get back down and at what speed I will be descending that grip me. I proceed downwards with great caution. I worry someday I might be like the cat in the tree, too overcome by my fear of coming down that I will be stuck wherever it was I dared to climb to. So far, however, I've been able to come down. Thank goodness.

It took us TEN hours to complete the hike. And that includes having slid down a big glacier to cut the time down by about 1 1/2 hours. The glacier was an adventure too. Kind of steep. I was somewhat concerned no official body of government had approved sledding here and deemed it safe. But the rest of the people on the mountain didn't seem phased by that. So down we went. The snow gave me scrapes all over my arms and my bum. As I had not planned to be sliding down a glacier that day, I neglected to wear appropriate clothes that don't "ride up." But, you'll be glad to know, I am healing well. I just have a very itchy bum. And since it's not at all socially acceptable to scratch one's bum, it's kind of a nuisance. My fingers and hands tingled for a few days as well. It's a phenomenon I like to call freezer burn. I experienced it once before when I had to climb a steel fence in Russia in the middle of January.

The experience reminded me of reading a very long book. As we made our way back down the trail, I found large sections of the trail which I had completely forgotten. It had just been so long since we'd passed that way. Just like when you go back over a long book. You go over it again and you find these entire sections and chapters with details that had completely left your memory. But when you find them again, they are familiar to you. And it's kind of exciting to realize how much has happened since you passed that way before. It's very fun to be on that kind of a journey. By the end of the hike we were all exhausted. Many were sunburned. Many were sore. I slept for 12 hours the next day. But it was beautiful up there. And sometimes, it's really just great to be on a journey.