Timpanogos Caves

(June 16th, 2022)

There are some cool places in Utah that we don't visit often. Timp caves costs money, so that one doesn't happen very often. In fact, last time we hiked it was over a decade ago. The girls looked a bit smaller then. And Pearl wasn't a thing yet. 

I only got to take Pearl and Ives on the hike, but it was really fun to go up the trail and remember the places we had been before. And I was much less nervous this time around. They have put up some new barriers and my kids are old enough, I don't feel like I need to have them hugging the mountain at all times so they don't plummet to their deaths.

We had an early schedule time, so we drove out there and got hiking right away. We even wore matching earrings. Zippers all around.

I got pictures of the girls under this arch last time. Crazy how time flies.

There were several of these bars on the ground. I think they are new. And by new, they put them in sometime in the last ten years or so. 

Someone told me this is the June pose. June, do you pose like this??

Ivory looks like she's roaring, but she's just yawning. Hiking straight up is hard work.

Pearl took a lot of pictures along the way. That is kind of her thing. She likes to document all the flowers. These purple ones are pretty.

This is not a good picture of this, but someone put a tiny stick under this large rock to make it look like the little twig is holding up all that weight. That's pretty funny actually, but this picture doesn't do it justice. 

There's a section where dog prints pop up on the trail and then lead into the rock wall. So ghost dog came down for a quick stroll and then melded back into the stone. He was so dead and cold, he left icy footprints. (They didn't tell us this, I just made this up)

At one point a little chipmunk came frolicking along the path. He ran up to the next marker, as if showing us the way, then sat on a rock and posed. Okay, I'll take your picture cutie although I'm sure you get plenty of photo ops.

Speaking of markers, they are numbers along the trail. They are not spaced evenly. You might see 3 and 4 very close and then not find 5 for a while. We started a competition to see who could touch them first. At one point, we passed a ranger and rounded a corner. I saw a number up ahead, so I sprinted away to get to it first. Running is not allowed on the trail, so the ranger yelled after me, "No running!" and then it was followed by, "Where is your parent?" Hahahaha. 

We saw a mountain sheep along the trail too. I don't think there are many of those sighted. So go us!

I forgot about the Last Chance restrooms towards the top. But reading back from the last time we went, it was funny to see what the girls thought about it. This is from the other blog post:

My personal favorite moment from the trip was listening to the dialogue coming from the bathroom at the top of the mountain. Since it is at the top, there is no plumbing; just the hole in the ground. Robyn finished up, looked down and asked, "Where's my pee?" I explained the situation and moments later when June used the rest room, I heard, "Where's my pee?"

It really is quite a steep hike. You can see how far up we are and of course, the sign told us the final elevation. Based on local elevation, I think we climbed over 2000 feet. 

They give everyone an hour an a half to climb to the top. I didn't realize that and we got there in 45 minutes. Over achievers I guess. We even went all the way to the back to touch the shiny rock. Some lady told us it doesn't count unless you touch it. 

I was worried we would have to sit around for a long time waiting for our turn, but they got us in with an earlier group. Here we are at the entrance.

Yep, more cave pictures. This cave seemed darker to me. We spent a long time trying to get a selfie that you could actually see. These aren't too bad.

This picture is a bit better.

There was a lot of cave popcorn, as they call it, but there were also a lot of formations that looked like weird coral, or maybe potato roots growing down through the ground. They were pretty neat.

That area had better light, so we tried again.

There is one place where the stalactite is getting pretty close to the stalagmite. It is still growing and they measured the rate. They said to come back in about 150 years to see them meet up to form a column. I'll make sure to put it on the calendar.

It was a fun little tour. It spit us out on the other side. I think I'm most impressed to realize that when people were first finding these caves, they only had candles to light the way. I don't think I could do it. I don't think of myself as claustrophobic, but caves makes me feel squirmy sometimes. It was nice to be back out in the open.

Then just the hike back down the mountain. 

Pearl and I almost got a selfie without Ivory, but she caught us and butted her way in. We weren't sneaky enough.

I really liked this picture that Pearl took. I love sun flares.

And that wraps up the hike. But don't forget we also get a treat on hike day. Daisy, who missed the hiking part, is always up for some cooking. She helped me make mousse. It was actually really good practice for a Bake Off we had the next week. (Stay tuned) Here she is folding in cream.

And the finished product was darn tasty. But I think almost anything would be if you sprinkled a symphony bar on top.