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Hiking Timp

Memories of Timp Hikes Past

Picture courtesy of: Mount Timpanogos Facebook page

As a teenager, I recall many hikes up Timpanogos Mountain ( Timp ).  Only one of these hikes occurred during the day.  Many hikers like to make this hike on a full moon.  We try to time things just right so we can be sitting on the summit and watch the sunrise.  Having lived my whole life under the shadow of this mountain, sunrises weren’t nearly as spectacular as sunsets for me.  It would often be full daylight before sunlight ever reached my yard.  But then I watched my first sunrise from the top of this majestic mountain.  It is quite the thing to witness.

Photo by Dwight Prince on Facebook

Like I said, I made this hike a number of times as a teenager.  Every year with our youth group, once with family, and a number of times with different groups of friends.  One time I hiked to the top from the Aspen Grove trail, but all of the other times we took the Timpooneke trail.  There were times that we stopped at the “saddle,” but most often I made it to the summit.  Many people slide down the glacier from the summit but I never took that venture.  We often met and were scared by the “resident moose.”  Once we stopped and played around Emerald Lake.  I don’t remember any “bad” trips up the mountain.  We had aches and pains, but I don’t recall serious injuries.  It was a fun hike which I anticipated every year.

Passing on my passion

And so I decided to try and share these memories with my children.  Caitlin (15), Josh (13), and Kristie (11), each decided they wanted to try hiking Timp with me.  I invited Charlee (9), but she said she doesn’t like the dark or heights so she was happy to stay at home.  I invited my sister, Jenni, and she was as giddy as I was.  She brought along her oldest boy, Jake.

I watched the full moon schedule, tracked the snow melt, watched the weather and waited for the right time to hike.  We tried to go up in early August, but our adventure was thwarted by thunderstorms.  (My dad took scouts up there once and got caught in lightening…Yeah, not something I wanted to do with my kids.)  And so we set the date for Labor Day.  I was so excited.  My kids…not so much.  They haven’t really done any hiking and didn’t know what to expect or anticipate.

Packing

I packed up apples, 2 different kinds of trail mix, 3 large Poweraides, 3 water bottles, and 2 camelbacks.  We had 2 head lamps, 1 mag-light, 2 other flashlights, extra batteries, a pair of hand held radios, a first aid kit, and some random survival supplies. There were 2 backpacks with 3 poweraide/water bottles each, for the kids to trade off carrying along with one camelback.  I carried the rest.  (Yes, I am a mother who packs WAY too much for her brood, but I was able to heft the heaviest pack so…)

Labor Day Morning:  12:30 AM

I slept through my alarm so Jenni woke me up at 12:30 AM.  It’s a good thing she was driving, I would have missed it.  We stopped at Walmart for some snacks: bananas, grapes, pop tarts, jolly ranchers, and chewy sprees.  (Most of which I hauled but we didn’t eat.)  Then we headed up American Fork Canyon to the Timpooneke trailhead.  The parking lot was nearly full when we arrived at 1:30am.  (Hiking Timp is very popular) We took some pictures and were off!

Altitude Sickness or Sleepy Sickness

We hiked through the dark for about an hour at a nice slow pace.  A number of groups passed us (mostly college kids), but we weren’t worried.  Slow and steady wins the race, right?!?

Everything was just fine until Jake started getting sick.  His stomach hurt and our breaks became more regular and lasted longer with each one.  Thinking it might be dehydration, Jenni and I encouraged him to keep drinking water.  It is amazing what water, and lack thereof, will do to your body.  But things continued to get worse.  We made it to the meadow above scout falls when Jake really started feeling poor.  We had already seen 2 sets of hikers headed down.  Both stated they had a sick hiker.  I turned to Jake and told him, “Look!  Even big college kids sometime have to turn around.  We will stop if you need us to.”

Both Jenni and I were torn.  We didn’t want to separate, but the looks on the faces of the kids at the thought of turning around was heartbreaking.  Caitlin, Josh, and Kristie were pretty disappointed at the prospect, but they weren’t excited about the thought of leaving Jake either.  Jake couldn’t fathom hiking another 3+ hours to the top, but didn’t want to be the reason we all turned around.  Finally, Jenni suggested I take the older three while she and Jake tried to sleep for a bit and we would keep in touch via radio.  We split up…and around 4:00 AM, Jenni radioed to let us know that they were headed back down the mountain.  On the way to the parking lot, Jake threw up (that probably helped the most).  By the time he got home, he was feeling great.

Going on alone

My kids were still determined to reach the saddle, but their energy level plummeted after leaving their cousin behind.  Instead of joking and singing, there was silence.  Breaks were still fairly regular as our altitude increased rapidly.  Just a little perspective, the hike to the basin (or what we always called the meadow) is about 5 miles and rises over 3,000 ft in altitude.  We made it to the meadow around 5:45 am (a little over 4 hours of hiking).  We were only about 2 miles from the summit but the kids were beat.  They wanted to rest for a minute.  I knew if they stopped they would never go again, but I also didn’t want to make their first hike a miserable one.

I went off in the trees to use the bathroom and by the time I got back, the kids were snoring.  Seriously, they huddled up together against the cold and fell asleep and started to snore.  I knew we were done but I wasn’t too disappointed.  They had done a really hard thing and it was pretty amazing.

This is a picture of our “camping” spot that I took when the sun came up.  Below is a picture that Caitlin took when I was trying to rouse my minions in hopes of climbing higher.  They weren’t too keen on the idea.

Rescue Chopper

While listening to the sonorous sounds of snoring…I heard a rescue helicopter coming near.  It came up over the saddle and circled for a  solid 20 minutes.  I had never seen rescue people up on Timp before and hoped that they were just checking the area since it was a holiday and there were so many hikers.  But that wasn’t so…

As the sun rose and the kids and I were traipsing  about the meadow, the chopper came back and landed.  We watched them pull out a gurney and some of their supplies.  There were no hikers in the area of their landing (we knew cause we had been all over that area messing around).  So they were going to have to hike to the injured party and then carry them back to the chopper.  So we decided to begin our decent.

view from the basin

As I said before, the meadow is less than 2 miles from the summit but more than 1500 ft higher in elevation.  Here are a couple of pictures that I took to show the kids where we were trying to reach in the dark.  The first picture shows the summit (even if it is a little out of focus).  For their first hike I really only expected us to get to the saddle (picture #2).  Alas, after listening to rescue choppers, I was satisfied with our hike and extremely grateful for our safety.

Enjoying the scenery on the way down

One good thing about hiking in the dark is that you don’t see how far you still have to go.  It is easier to get into a rhythmic routine of “just keep hiking, just keep hiking, hiking, hiking…All you have to do is HIKE…HIKE.”  (Thanks Dory for the theme song)  It is also cooler.  As the sun hits the trail it can get unbearably hot…fast.  I ache for the people just starting their accent as we reach the bottom.  Along with the heat of the sun, we have the light to show us the beauties and perils we crossed in the dark.  The kids looked around, amazed by the beautiful meadows, and foliage, the treacherous shale crossings, and the awesome views of the canyon below.

We even saw two moose eating just off the trail.  They are hard to see in the picture but I assure you, I didn’t really want to get much closer.  When they brought up their heads and looked directly at me…I froze…hoping they wouldn’t spook and charge.  Thankfully they went right on grazing.

The Down Beat

The hike down was always the worst for me as a youth.  And 8 kids later was no exception.  One of the ligaments in my hip hurt so bad I could hardly lift my leg.  My knees didn’t really appreciate all of the pounding. And Kristie complained of tired feet as we reached the parking lot.

But 5 days later as I right this post I have almost forgotten the pain and really do want to go at it again.  Next time (next year) we will make it to the summit of Timp!

 

 

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Life in Bluffdale

Week two

Well we have been in Bluffdale two weeks now and I guess its about time I let me fans (I use the term loosely) know that I am alive and well.  It has been a bit crazy trying to settle into a good routine for the family but I think we are just about there.  I am grateful the kids got into the local charter school but man…I broke my budget this month.  Completely annihilated it.  Uniforms for 6 rugrats and school supplies to boot…I’m ready to just hide until October.

A Typical Day

Although nothing for me is typical, here is what a typical/ideal day looks like.  We wake up at 6:30 and spend the next hour … getting dressed, changing diapers, eating breakfast, brushing hair/teeth, doing dishes, family prayer, individual scripture reading.  Whew…did we get it all?

The older kids head to school while the younger 3 and I do chores, stories, and play time.  This is the time for me and the three boys.  Jax is having a hard time getting me to slow down and enjoy life.  I see too many projects all around me, too many things that need to be cleaned, organized, finished, etc.  I need to improve these 3 hours and focus on the needs of the ones at my feet.

Lunchtime comes all too soon and Andrew heads to school.  The 2 boys left at home take their naps while mom gets to do some serious work.  I’ve got 3 hours to tackle any project I choose.  But don’t get too involved because from 3-4:30 it’s a rat race trying to pickup kids from 3 different campuses (thankfully all here in Bluffdale) while getting two of them to and from cross country practice.

Let me tell you, ironing out the wrinkles in our pick-up routine was rough.  The first day, Caitlin waited for over an hour at the high school, because I had to pick up Kristie and get her to the Jr High and I was sure it would be faster than the shuttle.  The next day we tried the shuttle, but that meant the little kids waited 30+ minutes for Caitlin and we still had to head over to the Jr High.  It took some playing around but I think we are finally all satisfied with the pickup routine.

Evenings are nice, dinner, more playing together and enjoying family time.  The kids are always wanting to play with friends but I’ve missed them all day and I don’t like to share much.

Reality

Alright, so I mentioned that was an ideal routine.  In reality there have been a lot more projects to make this move comfortable.  I have made endless trips to the store for clothes, school supplies, groceries, etc.  (And I mean endless both in the quantity and length.  Truly it is ridiculous.)  There have been multiple trips to PG to get beds, furniture, food, etc.  It took me an entire day to set up bunk beds, the daybed, and the crib.  Not to mention having to run to the store for a new bolt for the trundle bed.  Jax and I spent an entire day cleaning up the driveway area to make room to park.  I had to re-caulk the bathtub before bath night.  We blew in the insulation at night but painted the whole addition in a 24 hour period.

Thankfully the library isn’t too far away (Riverton – Why doesn’t Bluffdale have one?) because I think I have been there 10 times in the last 2 weeks.  I am extremely grateful that we have internet up and running here now and I really feel that things can simmer down from this rolling boil to a gentle rhythm.  I still can’t sit still, I am going crazy sitting at the computer instead of wiring outlets.  But things improve each and every day.

I choose to enjoy this adventure called life…It’s a journey worth taking.

Jensen Family minus Jax (taking the pic)
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Book Review: The Lioness Rampant

Book Review:

Lioness Rampant (Book Four in the Song of the Lioness Series) by Tamora Pierce

I am getting slower and slower with my book reviews.  By the time I sit down to share my thoughts on one book I am half-way through the next book.  But without a deadline my writing skills seem pretty dead.  So hear we go on the final installment of the Song of the Lioness series.

Content

Alanna continues her life as a knight.  Seeking glory, she rides to the roof of the world in order to recover the Dominion Jewel and present it to King Jonathan.  The quest is not without its own adventures and Alanna adds members to party as she goes.  When her quest is complete she returns to Tortal for the coronation of King Jonathan.

As she returns to Tortal, Alanna discovers that her brother has brought back to life her arch-enemy, Sir Robert.  Yep, we even get a little necromancy thrown in.  Once again Alanna is forced to face Sir Robert alone, as everyone else believes he is without magic.

Recommendation


I give this book 3 buttered rolls.  Maybe on its own this book isn’t too bad but the whole series was a chore for me to read.  The quests were less than epic, the characters were irritating, the dialogue was flat…and the feminist agenda was unbearable.  I finished this book over a month ago and had very little desire to write my review.  So there you have it.  The Song of the Lioness series is one that I will not be reading again and although may kids may choose to read it, I won’t be promoting it.

 

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Book Review: The Woman Who Rides Like a Man

Book Review:

The Woman Who Rides Like a Man (Book Three in the Song of the Lioness Series) by Tamora Pierce

I actually finished this one weeks ago.  However, my full time construction job on top of motherhood leaves me very little computer time.  But here is my review of the third book in this saga. (And I mean that in the sense that the series is becoming a little long winded with only a few dramatic events.)

Content

Now that she has won her knighthood and defeated the sorcerer who threatened the peace of the kingdom, Sir Alanna of Trebond seeks adventure in the deserts of Tortall.  She defeats a band of robbers but breaks her sword irreparably.  In a strange twist of fate she is adopted by the desert Bazhir tribe, the Bloody Hawk, and becomes their Shaman.  And this is where the majority of the book takes place.

As Shaman, Alanna improves her own magic skills and trains apprentices, two girls and a boy.  Alanna spends much of her knighthood defending the rights of women in a male dominated culture, as opposed to seeking out adventure.  There is not a distinct antagonist in this book.  Instead, this books seems to be a sort of coming of age story for Alanna.  She continues her search for love and acceptance, while turning down a marriage proposal, and mastering her Gift.

Recommendation

I give Book Three 3 out of 12 buttered rolls.  This could be the “Empire Strikes Back” installment of this series but really, I was left totally underwhelmed.  There is so much drama.  I’m talking femi-nazi, “Girls can do anything boys can do,” “A family will kill my career,” “Anyone who supports a patriarchal society is enslaving women,” type feminism.  It got old, and without a specific antagonist or quest to focus on, it got old fast.  Don’t get me wrong, I do like the idea of a female heroine.  I encourage my daughters to be anything they want to be.  But between the what-am-I-going-to-do-with-my-life drama and the men-hate-strong-women femi-nazi propaganda, I am left hoping there is a “Return of the Jedi” finish to this series.  Here’s hoping for the best.

 

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Book Review: In the Hand of the Goddess

Book Review:

In the Hand of the Goddess (Book 2 in the Song of the Lioness series) by Tamora Pierce

I enjoyed the first book and dove right into the next book in this series.  Although I still only get a few minutes here and there, I enjoy my reading time and keep my books accessible throughout the day.  Steven often grabs my book and tells me to “Put that book down now!”

Content

This book follows Alanna and her quest for knighthood.  And apparently her quest is approved by the Goddess Mother.  Alanna is visited by the Goddess, who gives her a magical charm and a guardian cat.

At the end of the first book, Prince Jonathan found out Sir Alan of Trebond’s secret.  But that doesn’t stop Jonathan from choosing this young page as his squire when he is knighted.  As squire, it is Alanna’s duty to protect her friend and liege against foes seen and unseen.  Throughout many trials, Alanna serves boldly and gains her shield as a knight.

Although the storyline was fun and full of adventure, there was a lot of drama.  Alanna faces many challenges while hiding her gender.  One challenge is to acknowledge her romantic feelings towards her comrades as they learn her secret.  And even though there wasn’t anything explicit, I wasn’t impressed with the loose morals at court.

Recommendation

I give Book Two 8 out of 12 buttered rolls.  This is a drop from book one of the same series.  This series is definitely geared towards a younger audience.  However, I felt that much of the underlying subject matter would not be appropriate for my twelve year old.  Like I mentioned before, nothing was explicit or inappropriate in its conveyance.  But I didn’t like the inferences and those underlying messages distracted me from the adventure.