Mt. Timpanogas Adventure

Our first stop on our Summer Adventure Tour was Tibble Fork Reservoir, American Fork Canyon, Utah.  Why this random place?  Because it is just 5 miles up the road from the Timpanogas Caves!  We'd been talking about hiking these for years and knew that if Samuel and Gabriella could hike the Waterfall Trail here in the Ogden canyon, they could do this too. 

Rebecca & Chrissee planned to work for a 1/2 day on Friday and that's about where the planning stopped.  Packing was crazy and getting out the door was worse!  There was still grocery shopping to do, equipment to check, and cars to get to the mechanic.  That's right.  Chrissee's Uncle Frank owns a Tunex down in South Jordan and, after hearing about our 4 months worth of trial and error for repairs, told her to bring it on down.  When she found out that it was only a few freeway exits from our destination, she decided to drop it off on the way.

Instead of leaving by 1:00ish, we were finally on our way around 4:30pm.  Just in time for rush hour traffic!  James chose to drive the backroads and, thanks to Utah's brilliant method of connecting every Main Street in the state and using the Cardinal directions in naming roads, we found the mechanics shop in no time. 

Getting to the right canyon was a little more difficult.  The road construction blocking the roads we had on the map (thanks MapQuest) meant we had to ask the locals.  Thank heaven James is a man willing to ASK for directions!

The Park Ranger at the mouth of the canyon (everyone has to PAY to enter this canyon) notified us that the developed campsites had all been full since Thursday, but that we might find a spot up Tibble Fork Reservoir.  She warned us that there were no toilets, no potable water, and no picnic tables.  That's when I began to regret NOT packing our chairs!

Driving up an unknown canyon as the sun is going down makes me nervous, but we found a site that would fit both tents and went to work.  We learned that chairs were not the only things missing from our preparation, but we also found that many of my "I don't usually buy this for camping" purchases were exactly what we needed -- like toilet paper and a lighter. 

We made s'mores out of Pecan Sandies (and the GF equivalent).  Everyone perfected their fire roasting technique.  Samuel likes his ON FIRE and quickly blows it out, presses chocolate chips into the black charcoal goo and squishes it between graham crackers.  Gabriella makes hers into a triple decker!  Bethany and Chrissee prefer slow-roasted, golden, and open-faced (a cookie on the bottom, chocolate chips in the middle, and gooey, golden marshmallow on top).  James and I both take it straight off the stick -- no frills. 

The downside of our little outdoor haven was all of the ATVs, motorcycles and trucks speeding past on the gravel road -- thick dirt covered every leaf for 15 feet in both directions -- and breathing it was not pleasant.  But, we slept well looking forward to our grand adventure in the morning. James read "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" to the little ones to help them fall asleep and the rest of us let the roar of the river take us to dreamland.

Did I mention the Potty Rock?  And the fact that I suffer from Poorly-Functioning-Kidney Bladder?  Yeah.  There was a rock.  A branch with toilet paper on it.  A bag for the garbage.  A bag full of wipes.  And a sheet.  Mother Nature supplied a healthy breeze.  Samuel held his #2 the whole weekend!

Chrissee and Bethany had the hot chocolate ready for everyone in the morning.  We packed back into the van and headed down the mountain, canteens and camelbacks ready to go.  Sunscreen?  Check.  Winter jacket?  Check.  This hike takes you to extremes.  It is a fully paved trail with an average of a 14% gradient (you hike 1.5 miles up and change 1100 feet of elevation).  It pushes the heat, the muscle, and the lung capacity.  It's breathtaking for more than the views...and totally worth it! 

The views were so tremendous that Bethany was so exhilarated -- I was nervous that she might actually try to fly.  She leaned over every rock face and cliff that she could.  She is a runner on a daily basis and had no trouble at all.  James also just kept trekking along.  Samuel found every caterpillar, millipede and snake along the way.  Gabriella told stories about the trail -- which was good and bad because she kept stopping on the trail right in front of Chrissee causing her to adjust her stride.  I stayed back with Chrissee.  (She is in braces for both knees.)  She took her asthma meds at the beginning, kept a slow and steady pace, and even though she felt like the trail might break her at the quarter-of-the-way mark -- she made it! 

We all did.  Our reward was a treasure.  We saw the inside of the world...the Heart of Timpanogas... the helectite formations that made it a national park... the flowrock... the stalactite broken off a millennium ago by an earthquake strong enough to shake the cave without collapsing it...the fault line seeping copper colored mineral water into the underground crevasse...the cave bacon.  We saw it all.  Gabriella said, "This is better than FETCH!!"

And it was.