Timpanogos Cave Hike

This last weekend we had Sam and Sierra my cousins down to stay with us. Weeks ago we talked about hiking to the Timpanogos Cave. Brandon had been on it when he was young, but the rest of us had never been. We bought our tickets over the phone the day before and even though it was pouring rain Saturday, we still went hiking! Annie was the only one with a waterproof jacket, the rest of us had long sleeve shirts under sweatshirts. The hike is 3 and 1/2 miles long with 1/2 a mile being inside the cave. In the matter of a mile and a half you hike up 1,100 feet, so you can imagine there are steep parts. It's all paved and there are benches along the way to rest.

The trail is narrow-about two people wide. There were some parts caved out of the mountian! We kept the kids on the inside of the trail away from the cliffs. Annie was on Brandon's back in her carrier. You cannot take carriers into the cave since there are some very narrow parts. We had to leave it outside in the rain. So on the way down Sam carried the backpack empty and Brandon carried a sleeping Annie.

Dispite being up in the clouds and not seeing the mountian across the way, the views were wonderful!

We made it up an hour. I think being wet from head to toe was motavation. On the way down Sam and Sierra really had to use the bathroom, so we did that one fast too. Let me tell you I feel it in every part of my legs today! Since it's steap, your knees and ankles are working hard on the way down to keep you from rolling.

There are three caves, the Hansen cave, the Middle cave and then Timpanogos cave. The story is that Martin Hansen followed a mountain lion while hiking to and opening in the mountain in 1887, and found many colorful deposits, a pool and other formations. The middle cave was discovered by his sons and the Timpanogos cave by two 14 year old boys. We had a great ranger for our guide. His name was Cory, he is from Anchorage and has been doing tours for seven years. One of the first things we saw was the fault line, which is pictured below. There is cave bacon coming down from it. We also learned about cave popcorn. Who knew there was food there!

Between each cave and rooms of the caves where narrow passageways. Some were so narrow and short we had to bend over and do a little dance to get through. You also try not to touch while doing this, so it was fun. Great ab workout I am sure!

We also saw the Heart of the Mountain. This is a stalactite that is over a million years old. Around it are there really cool things called helectites (might not have spelled that right). These are rare straw like stalactites which are very fine and often twist in many directions. The coolest thing about them is that scientists have no idea how they grow that way. They have tried to recreate them and can not. Very cool to think about the mysteries still out there.

It's always 40 degrees in the cave no matter what it is outside.

There were very cool stalagmites and also flow in the cave. It's crazy to think that in a few hundred years some might touch. It was well woth the climb and sore legs the next day. It makes me wonder what else is in the mountians around here.....