What we did this summer - Timp

Way back in July, we took the family to Mount Timpanogos to go hiking through the caverns. It was a perfect day to take off. In the canyon it is at least 10 degrees cooler than in Provo/Orem, and of course in the cave it's down in the freezing temperature range.

I had checked Google maps and found out how long it took to get there. We left with oodles of time. We arrived only to discover that Google map only takes you to the entrance to the park. It's another half hour's drive to the ranger station! We drove on in and were told we'd have to book it to make our scheduled tour and that all the tours for the day were packed full so if we missed it they couldn't fit us in later. It's a mile and a half walk (not bad...) straight up (stink...).

"Oh, and you can't use your stroller."








Aack. That's going to make this whole two-year-old-with-us thing much more difficult.

We started off hiking a bit too fast with Princess on my shoulders for the first quarter mile. That kind of killed me for the way up. We'd take turns having her walk, Mommy holding her, and occasionally I would take another turn holding her, but I wasn't good for much on the way up. We only paused for breath twice before we reached the summit. There we could rest since the tour guide was thankfully late. We made it!

Joy commented that this one sign we are getting old. That hike wouldn't have bothered either of us just a few years ago. Or it wouldn't've if I hadn't overdone it for the first quarter mile.

Superstar was an amazing trooper. He never once complained. He did ask to be held once, but when we explained we couldn't, he just plugged right along and enjoyed the exercise. Both the children were very good and avoided touching the rocks inside the cave.

Popcorn popping on the apricot rocks

The technical term for this is bacon. Seriously.

Once in the cave, we saw wonders, like popcorn rock and bacon formations. Superstar's least favorite part was when they turned out the lights to let us see REAL darkness. I was holding on to him and Princess so they wouldn't be scared, but when the guide asked if we all would like to do it again, Superstar gave a very adamant "NO!"







We had a pretty good guide. He was interesting and friendly. We paused outside the cave to eat our lunch and got to meet the next ranger. We were more thankful for our guide. She was a no-nonsense kind of ranger who was perturbed by many things.

We took our time heading back down, pausing for many pictures of the scenery.

 To make up for my performance on the way up I insisted on carrying Princess on my shoulders the entire way down. It worked out well.

As we hiked the kids wanted to sing Pioneer songs - Pioneer children sang as they walked and walked and walked; you don't have to walk a thousand miles or more to be a pioneer (but it sure helps!); and the oxcart is still going mighty slowly. By the end the kids had the songs memorized are were singing along too.

Tada! We made it back down are we're smiling!