traversing timp...

michael and i hiked timp!

michael is seven and usually up for an adventure. he is, however, very deliberate in his decision making. monday before the hike (last thursday) i asked if he'd be interested in hiking mount timpanogos. it was after school and the summit is visible from his school. he looked up at the mountain for 30 seconds or so and said, 'yeah'. we didn't talk a lot about it before the day of the hike. mostly because i worked late the night before the planned hike-date and i was worried i might not be up for it. however, the weather was going to turn soon and i figured it was now or next year so decided i'd better man up and sleep some other time.

it was busy in the ER the night before the hike, so i got home and was in bed by 3 am after setting out our gear. i had hoped to start at 5am, but couldn't drag myself out of bed till 6:15. i awoke michael, we each had a bowl of cereal and headed out. luckily i'd been reading accounts of the hike on the internet the day before and threw some gloves and fleece jackets into the car for the hike.

michael was bright eyed after our bowl of cereal and neither of us knew quite what to expect from the day. i'd only hiked timp once back in junior high and did so from the sundance side. we chose to hike from the AF side and we knew very little about the trail, the difficulty and how long it might take us. time wasn't on our side as i had to be back for our double date with mom and dad at hale center theater (the drowsy chaperone and a great time..:)

we were hiking by 7:20 am. there was little light as we started and it was chilly. low 40's? i brought my REI hiking poles i'd purchased for mount whitney and asked michael if he wanted to use one. he definitely did so we adjusted the size for him and headed out. i brought my camelback--100 oz--and cycling goo, crackers and my phone with tunes. we wore orange in case there were any elk hunters out.

the first part of the hike was taken up with discussions of college football, byu's woes, current college FB rankings, oregon football etc. etc. then we moved onto math problems. michael has always loved story problems and he was a good sport on this trip.

the summit of mount timp is 11,749'--second highest in the wasatch mountains. the summit is 7.5 miles one-way. emerald lake is 6.5 miles one-way with an elevation gain of 3210. we spoke with one group who said they plan 8 hours round trip to the saddle (the point where you can see out over the valley) and 12 hours round trip to summit. i've read accounts by avid hikers who made the summit round trip in 6.5 hours.

at hour two (and maybe 1000 vertical feet gain) michael seemed to be waning in his interest. we'd exhausted the limits of my college football conversation. he had found plants and rocks that reminded him of his sisters (we collected them to take to the girls on the way home) and he was getting plain bored. it wasn't so much he was tired, it just seemed like the task at hand wasn't holding his attention. i will say that we saw some amazing views as we hiked with the sun coming up over the 'valley' of AF canyon and the peaks opposite us.

at this point i resorted to the one thing i figured could save us from boredom and failure--broadway show tunes. on a recent trip home from granpatty's for dinner we broke out les miserables for the kids and explained the story as we listened to the songs. they loved it! michael in particular was enthralled by the characters, the songs etc. so i fired up my phone and we started listening to big river. big river is much more accessible to a seven year old than les miserables. there are quite a few love songs, but by and large we were able to have some good discussions about the musical. we talked about civil rights, slavery, mistreatment of others. we talked about school, huck's misbehavior and his struggle to find the moral good. we talked of trust in authority and misplaced trust in 'authority'. i always love talking to michael. by the time huck and company were waiting for the light to shine for the final time we were almost of the final climb up the plateau where emerald lake awaited.

during the time we listened to big river we'd shed our coats, taken several potty breaks, hiked the steepest and most sheer sections of the hike, and replaced coats when we hit the shade with a biting wind coming down the canyon. michael asked when we could turn around when the wind became really cold and before we began les miserables. we took plenty of drink breaks from the camelbak and hiked and hiked and hiked.

michael was the pacemaker for the majority of the hike. he would walk out in front of me and rarely strayed from the path. we hiked side by side at the steepest points as my spidey sense said i needed to shield him from the sheer faces to our left as we hiked.

3.5 hours later after we'd begun we arrived at the turn-off to emerald lake at 10:50 am. michael was a good sport to go that far as he would have gladly turned around 30 minutes prior. both of us were happy to make it to that point though as the view of timp summit was grand and the views of the valley below were stunning. we stopped to eat our PBJ's. they tasted outstanding and gave us a second wind--ready to conquer the hike downward.

because neither of us had done the hike from this side and we hadn't really discussed a specific goal, not summiting didn't seem a disappointment. in fact, reaching emerald lake the way michael did for his age was a great accomplishment and one to build on for future hikes and adventures.

way to go michael!


at 11:20 am we headed down the mountain to the sounds of poor fontaine's tragic life. our discussions down the canyon were more diverse as we discussed the french revolution, life's disappointments, hardship, and evil. les miserables ended and we had several hours more to hike. i tried playing hairspray, but decided it is meant for a more mature audience. we didn't turn it off before we had the chance to discuss what a 'double meaning' is. specifically in hairspray, tracy sings, 'mama i'm a big girl now' we talked about how she meant she was 'big' meaning old and 'big' meaning fat. michael laughed and referred to this double meaning later when we heard elphaba sing, 'i've been changed for good.'

anyway. we were broadway'd out by mile 11 and turned back to BYU football. as we came closer and closer to the car michael became more and more giddy. we started a rhyming game where would try to use words that rhyme with you. he loved it and we laughed often as we found new phrases to use.

we arrrived at the car at 1:50 pm and were happy to be back. when i asked michael what his favorite part was he said, 'goo breaks.'

it was a great day. when we do it again we'll definitely talk about our goals for the hike, get more sleep the night before and possibly train a bit in the lead-up...