We Did It! Mt. Timpanogos Is Finito!

 September 11th was the big day! Two of my friends and I hiked the great Mount Timpanogos located in the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest. This is the second-highest mountain in the Utah's Wasatch range. It's approximately 11,754 feet! The last time I hiked this was with my boyfriend and now husband when I was 23 years of age! I had to plan and prepare for this unlike the one I did in my early twenties. So crazy how our bodies break down with age. We even did the less elevation side...It took us a little over 11 hours. The weather was beautiful!

Can you find the mountain goat?

So many different views and scenery.

We made it to the saddle back and took a much needed break before we scrambled the mountain-side. We could've fallen to our deaths many times....

They have a little hut at the top where you can sign your name and take pics. So breathtaking!

Lots of fire smoke from Idaho fires that weekend...

More mountain goats. A whole family further down our trail. We took a rest and let them move along before we came down...well, actually a fellow hiker came down a bit later with their dog Zelda and moved the family along a bit more quickly!

I couldn't resist adding in this fuzzy caterpillar!

We saw this beautiful deer on our way down just chilling and only slowly moving away from us as we moved along the trail. But right before I saw this deer, I hear its friend in the bushes...and I truly thought it was some large mammal like a bear running towards me! I ran towards my friends ahead but they were calmly watching this other deer as I'm fleeing for my life...wow.😆

from the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources

We also saw a couple of pikas. And they are just the cutest. But I could not get a great picture cuz they are very good at hiding under rocks and in shadows!

My only injury was two bruised big toenails. They look terrible and it was so painful on the way down. It may take up to a year for my nails to heal up. But it was worth it? Looks like I'll need to lace up better or something for my next 14.3 mile hike with an elevation gain of 4,448 ft...ha ha.

I took Monday off and slept and watched Netflix...but felt halfway decent Tuesday! I'm hoping to get some bookish posts in soon. But we all got our Covid bivalent jabs on Friday and those put me under for a couple of days with mild aches and pains and fever...so I'm hoping this week is a lot more productive.

Weekend Outings: Antelope Island State Park

There were a lot of these artsy bison

I like to get out on the weekends.


 Especially with summer drawing to a close, it's nice to make the effort to see the outdoors. Utah has many State and National Parks to choose from and all within a few hours' drive.

an old washing machine

This weekend we headed up to Antelope Island, only 1.5 hours from our house. The island was first explored by white people in 1845. It was privately owned until 1981 when the state purchased it for a state park. The antelope are native to the island but the bison were brought in in the 1890s.

The geology has rock formations as old as ones found at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. My DH couldn't stop talking about all the stones and all the rocks!

a really large farm chair!

We headed up for a little hike to the top of Buffalo Hill. It got pretty toasty so we stopped after that hike and went on to the historic ranch a few miles down the island. Gabe loved all the old farm equipment. He kept asking questions about what this or that could have been used for and even came up with some interesting ideas for others!

I was born and raised in Utah and I had never been here! I'm so glad we decided to make the journey. We will be back for more hikes and more bison.

a panoramic at the top of the hill

we saw this bison as we were leaving