Que Vivamos la Vida: Hike of Hikes

The weekend after I got back from Cambridge, some of my friends decided to hike Mount Timpanogos.

I've been meaning to do this for the longest time.
Probably since this one time Freshman year when...

Mackenzie: Can you believe the snow on Mount Timpanogos already?
Me: Where's Mount Timpanogos?
Mackenzie: It's over there. [points]. It's huge. Some people hike it and get to the summit by sunrise. Seriously though, it takes all night.
Me: ...so legit.

Anyways, since that inconsequential conversation, I've been meaning to hike it. The mountain. The Timpanogos.

We started our hike around 1:30 in the morning with a big group of about 18 people. It would be a seven mile hike--with sunrise being around 6:30. Not going to lie, I was thinking, "Seven miles in five hours? Easy-peasy."

Before the hike.
Me, Jenna, Jessica, and...someone whose name I
can't remember.

The hike ended up being the hardest hike I've ever done. I think that out of the original eighteen, only five made it to the top. But man, was it worth it.

I didn't have a headlamp for the first part of the hike which made it a little tricky--a friend lent me his headlamp for the second, which made things a lot easier. The trail was also pretty rocky--and quite steep in parts. It got cold. And I got tired. But it was so beautiful. So many waterfalls and cliffs and the path just goes on and on. Maybe my favorite part was seeing all the other people making the same journey. You could see bobbing lights all the way up the mountain. I don't know--something about that...I loved it.

We hit the halfway point (there was a little shack). There was a group of people that decided to just stay there. I was tempted for about ten seconds--and then I decided I was going to make it to the top if it killed me.

Rob, Matt, and I left for the summit. We got to cross these lovely icy slopes.

tricky tricky.

And climb up rocks...

matt.
and me in the bottom right.

And I was SO TIRED. With every step I took, I was giving myself a pep talk. I devoured every granola bar I brought with me--and downed every ounce of liquid I had brought. My legs just got shakier and shakier.Oh, and I had to pee for the entire last half of the hike up to the summit, but thanks to me being a girl...let's leave it at, well, that's con #574 of being a girl.

But we got to see this at the almost-the-summit-but-not-quite:

Sunrays just beginning to peak over the horizon.

We booked it to the summit because some kids kept saying that we weren't going to make it in time. Puh-lease. There was no way. We made it in time, even if I was pretty much dying on that last stretch.

victoire épique

We did it!!!
Repping Cambridge on the top of Mount Timp.

We signed the Bible that was in the little shack on the summit to document our achievement. We chilled out for a while on the top. And then we headed down down down. The hike back was almost like a second hike because you could actually see everything that was around you. And it was breath-taking.