Tasty! Mt. Timpanogos is (almost) Ripe and Ready for the Picking!

Tasty! Mt. Timpanogos is (almost) Ripe and Ready for the Picking!

My local trail-running club, the Wasatch Mountain Wranglers, adopted the Timpooneke Trail Nr. 053 and Mt. Timpanogos Summit Trail Nr. 054 – two of the most heavily used trails in the entire state of Utah. Last night I joined for the first organized trail work event, clearing out the first mile of trail with loppers and shovels. It was looking gorgeous and I knew I’d need to get up farther in the near future. Then, this afternoon a friend posted that he hit the summit and the trail was in good shape. So, before I knew it, I had geared up and hit the trail.

Starting out it was in the 90s, but as I worked through the first couple miles, up past Scout Falls, and to the big meadow at mile two, it cooled significantly. Actually, it was perfect.

Mt. Timpanogos Summit run (3)
Looking north over the 2 mile meadow.
Mt. Timpanogos Summit run (4)
Looking down on the 2 mile meadow, facing east

The first snow was a small field in the middle of the big scree field around mile 3. After that, the next section was a sketchy mote (ice bridge) at about mile 3.7. My friend had warned me not to take the well-worn path right off the trail, but to follow his footsteps about 10-15 higher up to cross. When I got there, the main path looked good, but I followed his instructions and scrambled up higher. I’m glad I did. From the approach, the mote looks solid, but looking back at it (see below) you can see that it is completely undercut and quite thin.

Mt. Timpanogos Summit run (5)
Looking at the mote from the up-trail side. This picture doesn’t do justice to just how thin it was.

Once I got up to the Timp basin, the peak was bathed in light – its breathtaking.

Mt. Timpanogos Summit run (8)
As you can see, there is still a LOT of snow up there. Not wildflower season yet.

On the trip from the basin floor up to the saddle there were a few snow fields to cross. Nothing too sketchy. If you slid, you’d go a ways down, but no cliffs to fly off. On my way up I encountered a huge group of Mountain Goats – I counted at least 20.

Mt. Timpanogos Summit run (14)
The little kid goats were so cute. They were hopping and bounding all over the place.

Mt. Timpanogos Summit run (16)

Mt. Timpanogos Summit run (18)
This guy had a crooked horn (stained and bleeding from a recent fight?). I lingered a bit too long taking pictures and he slowly started approached me. I quickly moved on.
Mt. Timpanogos Summit run (23)
View of the summit and ridge from the saddle

Once I got to the saddle and looked up at the summit, I realized just how far up it is. I have only done this once before. I tried to make good time, but at that elevation I could feel my heart pounding. Its quite a scramble. The summit is just about 7 miles from the Timpooneke trailhead.

Mt. Timpanogos Summit run (25)
Summit!
Mt. Timpanogos Summit run (27)
Looking north from the summit

I didn’t linger at the summit long. It had had taken me longer than I had planned to get up and I knew that I would be chasing daylight. It was now about 8:30 PM. I had a headlamp with but really wanted to get down all of the snow traverses and across that mote before having to switch it on. So, I tried to huff it down. A couple of the snow crossing felt sketchier on the way down than up. I also glissaded down one on my butt. That was fun, but a bit faster than I had thought it would be!

Mt. Timpanogos Summit run (30)
Coming down the summit ridge, this is the notch just above the corkscrew section. The sunset light was BLAZING through and I had to literally shield my eyes. Something about the angle and the notch seemed to really amplify the light.
Mt. Timpanogos Summit run (32)
Although I was anxious to make better time, the clouds up by Box Elder Peak were blazing pink and I wanted to get a picture. I scrambled over to the toilet, knowing it would make for a humorous and memorable picture.
Mt. Timpanogos Summit run (33)
I stopped one more time when I almost ran straight into a porcupine! I came bounding down the trail and almost landed on him – within a couple feet by the time I stumbled to a stop. Yikes. He scurried off – pretty fast, actually – and I fumbled to get my phone out to take a picture. That’s him running off through the grass.

I did make it down and across the mote before stopping to put my headlamp on. I put some music on the loud speaker of my phone to alert any animals of my presence – terrified of running into something in the dark. It was a bit spooky coming down the last 4 miles. I picked away at it fairly slow. The trail has a lot of rocks and roots to trip on.

I made it safely to my car – about 5 hours round trip, 45 minutes longer than my first trip up last year. Next time, without the snow or dark, I’ll push for sub-4.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.