We Made a Huge Mistake

Friday was Pioneer Day here in Utah. So in honor of the pioneers, we got the idea to make our own trek up to the Mount Timpanogos Summit. From our 7,000 feet starting point, it was only a 4,800 feet up...easy. A little TOO easy.....so to make it more up to Kevin's standards, we decided to start at midnight, in the rain. Finally a challenge.

At 12:30AM us and the, always up for a challenge Fox's, started the 7 miles to the top. With our headlamps set to red (we later became known at the Red-Light Group - you know you have made it on Mount Timp when you are given a gang name) we set out on what turned out to be the longest 10 hours of my life.

After about 4 1/2 hours of hiking we got lost, and ended up on a huge snow bank. We could see some lights from other hikes high above us, but just couldn't figure out how to get up to them. We came to a huge rock slide type thing and decided the only way was up. It was horrible, absolutely horrible. I'm not sure how many of you have ever scrambled straight up 100 feet of loose rocks, in the dark, but it is almost impossible. After about 20 mins of scrambling, slipping, praying, and a small amount of silent crying, I did it! I declared myself there and then the Warrior Princess. It was after 5am by now and all I could think was: "I've made a huge mistake". 

Here are the reasons behind the insanity:

We saw the sunrise for about 5 mins before it went behind the clouds, but I was far too tired to get my camera out for that.

Yes I am wearing thermals under my shorts, brightest decision I ever made. Shorts when it was hot, thermals for when it was cold! 

11,800 feet high! 

Where we got lost. We started at the far side of the picture, slipped away across the snow/ice, then scrambled up the rock pile closes to the camera - the whole rock pile/slide didn't fit in the camera, that is how big it was!