Paperbacks and Peaks

the HB prefers hardcover books because they last longer and still look nice. He would love to have shelves full of collections of hardback books someday. I prefer paperback books because you can bend them. And when you're done reading them they look used, but they also look loved. I like that things break down and decay. I like it when things get overgrown by other things. I like that species become extinct--not when sped by human action, but when it naturally occurs--and when new species or existing ones' population grows to fill the gap, thus altering the ecosystem again to create other extinctions and flourishes (I just finished reading “Cod” and the fictional “children of men”—both great stories of population growth and decline).

What's cool is that the HB and I both love old buildings. He's into history and I think the decay is plain romantic. This weekend we backpacked up to Emerald Lake with April and Bill and then summitted Mount Timpanogos. There’s an old shelter by the lake that’s been vandalized. I don’t think it gets used much now but I wish I could see it when it was thriving. When Tyler and I went to San Francisco in July we got to explore the ruins of an old bath house by the coast and then compare it to the poster picture of what it must have looked like. That was awesome.

Tyler is the shiz. He hiked up by himself to meet us at the lake Saturday night after his football team’s scrimmage. It was dark by then and a long hard hike with a pack, especially on a trail he’d never been on before. I was so worried about him and probably drove him crazy by continuously calling him on his way up. Then I hiked down a ways to meet him and show him our campsite. Bill built some chairs out of rocks and our site looked really awesome. In the morning I couldn’t wait to show Tyler the area and to get up to the top with him. It was cool to hike to the peak together and then all the way back down even though I thought the last mile or two was going to kill me. When we got down we both grabbed a 32-ouncer at the gas station, for me, a vanilla Diet Coke, woohoo!

Mount Timpanogos Camp/Summit Aug. 2006

Alene, April, and Bill had planned a backpacking trip up to the top of Mt Timpanogos over a weekend we did not have Caiden, however I had a football game to coach that Saturday and opted to back out of going with them. I was a little jealous because I had not had a chance to try out our new backpacks we each purchased.

Saturday morning Alene packed her bag and headed down to meet up at the trail head with April and Bill. I went up north to Centerville to coach my scrimmage, but it ended much sooner than I though, so I had this burst of energy and thought I could catch them. By the time my scrimmage ended they were already on their way up the trail, but it didn't deter me. I did not know much about the trail up to Mt Timp, but I was able to call them and find out where they started from and how to get up there.

Alene getting ready to leave the house



April and Bill on the hike up



They passed many waterfalls along the way







Looking back toward Aspen Grove and Sundance



It starts to thin out a bit and you start to see the mountain goats



More waterfalls



Looking up at the summit shack from below at Emerald lake



The TERT shack. Lots of packs stored in here for people that are doing the summit





Emerald Lake and the glacier. If you look closely you can see two people coming down the glacier. It gives you an idea how big it is.



Looking back at Heber Valley



Setting up camp; Bill constructed some chairs out of rocks in the area



The runoff from Emerald lake



I arrived at the Aspen Grove trail head around 6pm or so, threw my pack on my back and set my ipod to "shuffle" and started high-tailing it up the trail. They actually had some cell phone coverage up there so I had occasional contact with them on my way up. As I worked my way up to the top it got really dark and cold and I was dripping with sweat, which made me even more cold. For the last mile or two I hiked in pitch black with nothing more than my headlamp on. It got a little scary because at times you had nothing to follow but some worn talus rock and in the dark it's hard to find. At one point Alene and April were able to reach me on my cell phone and decided to start hiking down to me. We met up about 1 mile from our campsite and I was glad to see them. I was tired and soaking wet and COLD.

When we got to camp we quickly ate our backpacker meals and shared the same broken fork with only two prongs on it (we all forgot to bring utensils). After eating it was late, I was beat from the fast pace of hiking, and we all went to bed. I was still very wet from the hiking and it became VERY cold high up on that mountain and I started to shiver like crazy in my sleeping bag. I remember not really sleeping well that night.

The next morning we packed up and parted ways as April and Bill had to be somewhere and could not do the summit. Alene and I stored our packs in the TERT shack and worked our way up to the summit.

Beginning our trek on up outside the TERT shack



At the saddle before making the route up the rocky route to the summit. There were surprisingly a lot of people up here, even some runners





The route on up - I was extremely out of shape. Even though the summit was only at 11,750', I had to stop what seemed like every 10 steps because my head was hurting and I was tired. I could not believe a few of the guys I saw RUNNING up this trail. They had to be in phenomenal shape to do that. I was in terrible shape, so it made sense that I had to stop often.





Getting close to the summit



In the summit shack



Taking a break



Looking down on emerald lake (near where we camped)



Looking back at Heber Valley



Back at the TERT shack and ready for the steep hike down



More mountain goats



We were really sore coming down the mountain as it takes its toll on your knees. It was a fun experience and I can't wait to get back and do it again. I need to get my butt in shape first however!