Hiking Timp

I've been looking at Timp my whole life. I used to sit on my front porch at night and watch it spring from darkness during lightning storms. I love watching it's white peaks melt into gold when the sunset hits it just right in the winter. I love how it's green slopes colide so suddenly with it's stark, stony, cliffs every summer. Countless times I've driven around it, hiked on it, and picnicked in it's canyons, but in all my life I never managed to get on top of it. Fortunately this gross oversight has now been amended. Here are some pictures of my marvelous adventures on Timp.

We started up at one o'clock in the morning, so the first half of the journey was pretty dark. This picture obviously didn't work out. The bigger light is the moon, the smaller one's a planet. On my camera it looked like something from Star Wars. Try as they might, even the most eloquent writers and able photographers have never been able to justly capture the haunting beauty of a moonlit mountainside. Let's just say if you haven't seen it for yourself it's something you need to do before you die.











This was my favorite part. When we reached the saddle the sun was just starting to rise. I looked to my left and saw the a brillant blue sky and a horizon alive with the crimson gold of the sunrise. Then I looked to my right and saw a sky black as midnight covering the moon's reflection off the lake and the city lights of the valley.

Heidi is one of the most adventurous people I know! She called me that day to see if I wanted to hang out and instantly agreed to a midnight hike scheme instead!

One of the best parts of hiking is it makes fast friends! I'm new in my ward and didn't really know anyone, but I figured this would make an excellant start. There's nothing like toiling up treacherous mountainsides to bring people together!










Getting from the saddle to the top was the hardest part, but the view from there is unimaginable.

These kids were hitting golf balls off of the saddle. How cool is that?!

Coming down I couldn't believe I was on the same mountain. By day the colors came to life, and I was overwhelmed by the green slopes and meadows of wildflowers. When we finally got off the mountain I was tired, sore, and favoring blisters, but I can honestly say every ounce of pain was repaid ten fold with the beauty that surrounded me every step of the way. That was definitely an adventure worth having.