After years of staring up at the ridgeline extended south from the Mount Timpanogos summit and curving southeast up Provo Canyon, I finally traversed it. It was significantly rougher going than the ridgeline that extends north from the summit. The day was beautiful but I moved slow and the hours took their toll. In the end it was about 17 miles with over 6,000 ft. of climbing. Map and route details on Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/15642067179
I have been eyeballing the Timpanogos ridgeline for years, but have only ever done the main summit. After years of plans falling through, I finally did some of the north ridgeline today.
Starting at the Timpooneke Trailhead, I went up the Timpooneke-Chris Flat trail until just before the Julie Andrews Meadow, then veering off the trail and up towards the NE ridge of North Timp. There was a “trail” that was fairly easy to follow, but wildly steep. Moving through some scrub oak and aspen for a while, the ridge eventually opens up to wide open terrain, with just rocks and grass to navigate. A couple miles up the route enters some jumbled rocks and approaches cliff bands to the right of the Grunge Couloir. There is a nice rock ledge-easy to attain- that backtracks to the right and safely wraps you around the other side of a little ridge. From there, it is a mostly straight-shot up the NE ridge. There are various scree shoots, ridgeline trees to get around, and small rock sections that require hands but don’t really count as “climbing,” but it is otherwise pretty simple. Standing on the North Timp summit felt great. There is a summit registry in a mailbox, but it is hard to find an open page to sign! I wonder if someone should take it down, replace it with a new one, and digitize the entire old one and put it online.
From North Timp, I bounded on down the ridgeline to Bomber Peak and then on to the main trail saddle. Up to that point, I only saw 2 hikers who were making their last push up to North Timp from the opposite direction. I saw a few people between the saddle and main summit, but had the peak to myself. The descent was fairly uneventful. I didn’t bomb has hard as previous trips. Next, I need to do the rest of the ridgeline to the south!
I did this loop a few years ago and was excited to try it again. I did it solo this time and chopped about an hour off my elapsed time.
I began at first light at the Aspen Grove trailhead and headed up. I didn’t see another person until just before Emerald Lake-about 90 minutes and 5 miles into the route. It was a beautiful morning. Perfect weather. Cool with a little breeze. There was still some snow on the traverse across the rockslide field between Emerald Lake and the saddle. To be honest, it is probably easier to cross on the snow than bare jumbled rocks.
A few sprinkles swirled around as I moved across the snow field, but nothing too bad. Winds picked up once I hit the saddle and I wrapped buffs around my hands as I worked my way to the summit. Brrr! I saw a handful of people on the way to the top, but there was only a father/son duo at the summit. I’ve been lucky to have the summit mostly to myself most trips. Only once have I experienced a crowded summit.
I didn’t stay long and bombed on down the Timpooneke trail. There were some more people on the trail for the remainder of the descent, but it still wasn’t too many. Temperatures rose and I descended, but I felt good and planned to refill my water at the Timpooneke trailhead. Unfortunately, when I arrived I found the water spigot capped (due to COVID-19, I presume). Uh oh. I still had some water, but not a ton.
As I started the 5 miles up and over some backside trails to complete the loop back to Aspen Grove, my feet started to hurt and throb. My shoes were too tight, but just wanting to finish I pressed on. I probably should have paused for a minute to loosen them a bit. I knew I had some sodas on ice in the car too, and with water running out I was anxious for a cold drink.
In all, it was an amazing day. Gorgeous. Not a bad way to celebrate my 40th.
First Timp of the season – August 21 – and still some stretches of snow to cross on the way up to the main saddle. I was feeling good today and decided to try to push for a sub-4:00 roundtrip. I sprinted the first 1/4 mile after getting spooked by a moose. There were others on the trail that other hikers saw but I didn’t see any others. I did see a fox up in the meadow basin! That was a first. I had the summit all to myself. It was beautiful. I looked at my watch and saw that a sub-4:00 might be possible if I really bombed. I shouldn’t have sat at the summit for so long because it required a painful pace. It wasn’t the most pleasant descent. A dead sprint for the last 1/2 mile down. BUT – I came in just under the wire. A moving time of 3:59:52!
Oh hallelujah! I finally got up Timp! I got dumped on by a huge rainstorm and freezing wind on the way up, and then baked in sweltering hot humidity on the way down. In other words, amazing. I was a slow day though. I stopped under some trees a few times to wait out the rain and some huge groups of people (way more than the 15 person limit for Wilderness Areas) created some long traffic jams at the snow crossings.
I decided to treat myself to a Mt. Timpanogos summit for my birthday this morning. I have done the summit twice from the Timpooneke trailhead but never from Aspen Grove. I decided to make a loop of it. Up Aspen Grove, down Timpooneke, then loop back to AG on the Salamander Flats, Snow Gauging, and Lame Horse trails. A 19.5 mile loop.
I put out the call and two fellow Wasatch Mountain Wranglers joined – Keith and Tim. We started at 5:00 and caught an amazing sunrise as we climbed the trail out of Aspen Grove.
This side is steeper than Timpooneke, less runnable, but features some beautiful waterfalls, a few lakes and meadows, an old Forest Service ranger cabin, and views for days.
We spent a lot of time stopping and taking pictures, so I apologize to Tim and Keith for destroying their splits. But it was hard not to stop and gawk.
Once we climbed over to the saddle, it a wind picked up and it got a bit chilly. In the sun it was alright, but my hands got numb. At the summit, two other wranglers, Josh and Jade, caught up to us. They had started from the other trailhead and were pushing for a fast round trip. We sat around for a bit up top. It’s hard to just turn around and bomb back down when the views as so good.
Hat tip to Tim, as well, for picking up a ton of trash along the trail and on the summit. Littering makes me so mad.
Once we got off the saddle the temps picked up fast. Lots of hikers were moving up their trail a high fiving us as we ran down, thinking we were more hardcore that we are. When we explained the loop we were doing, we did get some raised eyebrows. Maybe we are hardcore.
About halfway down I rolled my right ankle hard. I heard an audible crunch. It ran of OK, though tender, until right at the bottom when I rolled it again. Sharp stab of pain. Oh boy…
At the trailhead I used the bathroom, drenched myself in water, refilled, and headed off for the return trails. Those were a tough 5 miles for me. Very runnable, but not for me. It was also fun to see a few new places.
The heat, returned GI distress, and the ankle. But, we made it and it was gorgeous. I will definitely make this loop again, but hopefully in better physical conditions. Happy birthday to me!
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.
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.
Once I got up to the Timp basin, the peak was bathed in light – its breathtaking.
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.
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.
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!
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.