Timpano-go

So my dad and I had been planning a weekend excursion up to the Uintas. He wanted to climb Mt. Timpanogos, because it was supposed to be a very good hike. There is a trail to the top of the peak. I was all for it and I was planning to meet him for the weekend. I got an opportunity to work some overtime for backcountry, so I wanted to take that to make sure that they would want to hire me the next season. That was going to put a crimp in our plans. We made it work, though, so that when I got off at 3pm, I was on my way up to Central Utah, a little past Richfield, where I would meet him.

After a bit of confusion, I met him at a junction with 24 and I-70. We left me truck parked in the middle of some town and headed up. We stayed the night at a hotel in Nephi.

Up early the next day, we were ready to hit the trail. I was not particularly thrilled when the sun finally came up and the peak came into view. Quite a bit of snow was resting on the top. I had no clue. I was enduring 100 degree days for so long that this was an odd site to me. My beat up old tennis shoes might not do the trick. After an IHOP breakfast, we were on the trail in the brisk morning light. I looked up at the trail just above me and thought, oh gees that is just covered in snow. Rocking the tennis shoes was going to have to work and I had to borrow a pair of cheap sunglasses from my dad, which made me look very hip. I endured the climb up the trail with some wet cold feet. 

It was definitely a steep, long climb. It was somewhere between 4-5,000 foot elevation gain in about 8 miles. Thus, it was rather steadily uphill. We ran into some folks on the way up who said that the snow got pretty deep for them and they had to go ahead and turn around. We were determined not to have to do that. We made it up to a little hut and the views were rather sweet from up there. We could see the Uintas caked in a fresh snow, the first of the fall that most likely would only last a few days. We continued on past the hut and soon the snow got deeper. It was easy for a time as we were following the tracks of the people we saw before us turn around. 

Soon we found the spot where they turned around. It got to be tough going, although my dad who was fully equipped was doing most of the hard work. We got to where we could see the summit ridge rising above us, but my feet were getting close to that too numb point. There were a couple lesser peaks around that I questioned scrambling on up also. It was so hard to actually see how to get to the top of the peak and not actually take that opportunity to climb it. We discussed the situation, but I had to bail on the climb. I felt bad as I obviously took the team down on this one. My dad was fine with it. I snapped a picture of him with the peak behind him. We took off down the trail to the valley below where the fall colors were already starting to decorate the landscape. 

By now, near the trailhead, the snow had began to melt. I knew that one day later and the peak would have easily been ours. It was just so hard to believe that in the middle of September when it is still pushing 100 in Zion, I could get snowed out just four hours in the north. Lesson learned, but overall it was a great day exploring the backcountry with my dad.