So much to do, so little time.

My Dad took me to the top of Timpanogos in August, 1984 about a week before the school season started. I later returned in August of 1991, again about a week before starting my senior year of High School. This time around a good childhood friend and I trudged up the Aspen Grove side of the mountain, full packs loaded, where we made it to the small summit shelter shack, where we decided to spend the night. The lights below in Orem and Provo were incredible to see from 11,749 feet. We had forgotten to bring our stoves on that one, and ended up eating cold cup of noodles, which did not turn out well. We ended up pouring out the bullion from the noodles on the rocks outside the shelter. That night the local mountain goat herd decided to congregate around the shelter, probably enticed by the salty broth left of the rocks. The next morning at dawn, a hiking party arrived, and resumed to cook breakfast outside the shelter. The smell of eggs and bacon proved to be too much for Jason and I, we packed it up and booked down the mountain, heading to the closest McDonald's we could find, as we were starving.

This summer, primarily the month of July, has been a quest to reach and visit all of the prominent summits of Timpanogos. Another good childhood friend I've known since first grade and I hiked the Timponeke Trail to the summit on a Saturday. The weather was intermittently bad, very windy on the peak that day. We stayed on the peak for about 20 minutes before heading back down. The following week I headed up the Aspen Grove side of the mountain, alone. I first hit up Robert's Horn, a sub peak on Timp north east of Emerald Lake. Then crossing a snow field to the west saddle, I made my way up to the summit of Timp again, passing the shack and tired looking hikers residing inside to continue around the summit to the south and east. Once arriving at the the Timp Glacier Saddle, I scrambled up the loose talus and scree slopes to Timp's South summit, just slightly lower in altitude than the main summit. After that last peak on that hike, I glissaded down the Timp Glacier back to Emerald Lake. Late snow has made Emerald Lake more of a Sapphire color! Once reaching the lake I booked it back down to the trailhead and returned home.

On July 24th, I decided to head up Timp again, the third trip in as many weeks. This time I headed up the Timponeke side, with the northern portion of the mountain in mind this time. The north summit of Timpanogos is very prominent from the back deck of my home, and I wanted a chance to point out and say "Hey, I've been there" to those who seem interested. Heading up the mountain in the early morning hours with a headlamp was interesting. There were several parties in front and back of me on the trail, and watching their progress from the dwindling light was interesting. I ended up hitting the Timp Basin area just as the sunlight was hitting up the main summit massif. Shortly after I reached the west saddle, and headed north. From this point on this ridge I had the mountain to myself. After crossing a smaller less prominent sub peak on the ridge, I approached Bomber Peak, named after a Air Force B-25 Bomber plane crashed into the flanks of this peak in 1955. There I was greeted by a large herd of mountain goats who did not mind me being there. After photos and half an hour on the summit of Bomber, I headed north to the prominent summit of North Timpanogos. In this area I found a fossil which proved interesting. After some photos and signing the summit register there, I traversed back to Bomber, where I descended a chute on Bomber's east face, down to the plane crash site. Once getting photos, I headed back into the main Timp Basin area, where crowds of people were on the trail. After dodging many groups of hikers making their way up the mountain, I reached the trail head and headed home.

After the cool experiences on Timpanogos over the last three weeks, exploring the mountain and hitting up all the summits on the main ridge line, I thought it would be appropriate to create an album with the photos taken from this impressive mountain. There is so much to see and do on Timpanogos I recommend it to anyone who has not been there before. It is likely the gem of Utah!