Epic hike, epic anniversary date, epic day of physical exertion, but most of all epic FAIL!
As I mentioned in my last post, we skipped going on a fancy schmancy 12th aniversary vacation for a few reasons. Mostly because we didn't want to spend big money, but also because Brent's brother was returning from his LDS mission to Singapore and having his homecoming celebration the day after our anniversary. We decided to go to Utah instead of a vacation...and while we were there wanted to plan something EPIC to do.
8/23:
LONE PEAK! I've wanted to hike that with Brent since I first met him, but the circumstances have never been quite right up until now. Still, we were pushing it to think we could hike Lone Peak in one day in the blistering heat of August.
Here is a visual overview of our hike:
On the right (where we started) is Draper. We walked up that big mountain all day and for several reasons we did not end up having enough daylight to make it all the way to the top. By the time we stopped I could go no further. I felt like such a quitter, but really there was nothing we could do about it...except plan our next trip better.
We started out on the wrong foot by getting going later than we planned. Everyone we have talked to says you have to start at 4 am to climb the mountain in one day. I think we started at 8:30. Also, Brent decided to take an experimental trail, one he's never taken before. We took the brand new Orson Smith trail on the front of the mountain, starting in Draper (as opposed to the shorter, much preferred Jacob's Ladder trail, which you can access from Draper or Alpine). All in all, we ended up hiking across the mountain and back twice in the time we could've been up to the top and on our way back down. Disappointing! The Jacob's Ladder trail is 11 miles, and we ended up hiking 13...all WITHOUT making it to the top. Oh well!
And I'd like to make myself feel better about it all by saying we had a great time anyway, but we really didn't have a great time. It was over 100 degrees, the sun was mercilessly beating down on us the whole time, and it was a very strenuous hike. Not to mention that we had to hike 3/4 of the way down in the dark...with no flashlights. BUT...even though I was questioning my sanity in voluntarily choosing to do this hike, I am glad we went. I was SO GLAD to finally see this mountain of which I've heard Brent gush about all our married life. And next time, yes there will be a next time...we will easily hike this in two days, starting from the Jacob's Ladder trail.
climbing altitude! Excited!
Draper LDS Temple
a view of Salt Lake City, SLC how I love thee!
somehow we cross the whole width of the mountain and ended up climbing the "bald spot". It went on FOREVER in the hot, blazing sun. I do not recommend doing that.
Brent at the top of the Bald Spot. He kept getting ahead of Emily and I, and I thought we were never going to catch up with him. Jonny, Brent's brother was teaching paragliding lessons that morning. His plan was to run up the mountain (!) and meet us when he was done. Brent and his brother are pretty crazy, as you can tell.
from the top of the bald spot
after reaching the bald spot, we traversed the mountain once again to find the spring. We filled all of our water bottles and camelbacks. This hike would be impossible without this spring. We could not have carried more water than we did, and it was no where near enough. It is a very good thing that Brent and his family knows this mountain!
Jonny and Emily: Jonny finally caught up with us! He hiked with us for a few miles and then had to leave again to teach evening paragliding lessons! He ran back to the bald spot with his paraglider and flew off the mountain!
this is where we stalled out for the day. It was so sad, but we just did not have enough daylight to safely come down from the peak if we went any further. Not to mention, I really couldn't hike any further up.
here is the view of the cirque and the peak from where we stopped...SO close! Yet so far away...
beautiful flower and beautiful Emily
On our way back down we crossed over the mountain, yet again...this time to the north side, so we could stay out of the blazing heat.
the shady side is longer, but much more pleasant
and we found the old hikers cabin, which is supposed to be pretty hard to find!
Emily and Kate
Brent and Kate: Happy 12th Anniversary + 3 days!
beautiful flowers, glowing in the sunlight
ant
Emily missed a spot with the sunscreen! Ouch!
forget-me-nots {heart} favorite!
Giant nose picking
I LOVE aspen trees...and miss them in Oregon
red elderberry (poisonous) and rose hips (edible)
The sun is starting to set and I keep stopping to take all these breathtaking pictures because the lighting is perfect. Little did I realize that we still had a LONG way to hike. It looked like we were close, but we were only 1/4 of the way down.
It was a LONG, long, long way down in the dark, but we made it eventually. And when we got to the car that felt pretty miraculous!
Even though it was VERY hard, it was awesome to spend the day doing something we could NOT do with our kids for our anniversary. We love our kids and we take them everywhere with us...so that limits what we can do.
Happy Anniversary to my best friend and love!
1 comments:
Wow, Kate that post brought back all the feeling of epic-ness of that day :) Except you left the part out where I cried the last half hour because my blisters hurt so bad and I had to side step and walk backwards down the trail in the dark. Yeah....it was a great day/hike until then. Thanks for posting all the awesome pics! Let's try again in a year, or two or three.