2011-09-03 Mt. Timpanogos Summit Hike (#12)

Hiking Photo Link 1
Hiking Photo Link 2

Saturday (9/3) has been set as the hike of the year. Many people have expressed interest to hike to the summit of Mt. Timpanogos (11,749 feet). This is a 14.5 miles round trip hike and takes about 7-11 hours to complete. We met at church parking lot around 6 am and plan on arriving at the trailhead earlier, hoping to secure a parking space. The Timpooneke trail is so popular that we heard the parking lot is usually full by early morning. We arrived at the American Fork Canyon fee station around 6:50, and saw a sign said the parking lot is full. Later we found out the lot was already full at 3 am. We arrived at the entrance of the trailhead, and were very lucky to be told that there is a small space for our car (I drove my Camry in stead of Highlander). The temperature was very cold and all of us had to put on jacket. We waited for our group to show up, but did not hold much hope because the lot was full. We waied till 7:45 am and decided to begin the hike. Our group finally caught up with us after a few hours. The trail was easier than the Aspen Grove trail that I hiked last year. It was a very pleasant hike. Timpanogos Bain is full of flowers. The view literally took my breath away. It was so beautiful. I finally arrived at the Saddle around noon, and since my legs felt fine, I decided to hike to the summit. The trail to summit was scary at points, but I finally made it at 1:10 pm. The view was awesome.