Here is the lake we camped at. Just above the last tall tree on the left is the notch we climbed up to get to the first ridge. The pictures I took didn't do the steepness of the ascent justice. It was like being on a stair stepper all the way up!
This is a picture of one of the granite faces near our camp. The morning light was making some ascetically pleasing shadows before our trip up the mountain so I grabbed a shot. The granite has to be one of the most impressive parts of the desolation wilderness.
Here is another view on the way up the mountain. All of it was steep, but the scenery was actually pretty varied.
This is one of many beautiful flowers that were in bloom in the wilderness. There was very little large wildlife to be found, but the variety of plants and small creatures was impressive.
Almost to the top now. It is amazing that these piles of rocks stay on the top of the peak.
At the peak! My watch said 9996 feet, but officially the mountain is only 9981 feet high I believe. I tried to jump and hold up my arm to get to 10,000 feet.
Here I am posing like I am on top of the world. The views in all directions were amazing!
On the left is Craig, then Vance, then me (hopefully you knew that last one at least :) ).
At the peak was an ammo box full of granola bars people have left as well as a couple of log books for visitors to leave their tales of getting to the top. Many people do the ascent in the winter and ski parts of the way down. That must be a much more intense trip than the one we took!
After the hike up the mountain, we were going to take a nap, but there were a bunch of people near our camp, so we headed out for another hike. It turned out to be almost as intense as the climb up to the top of the mountain! We had seen a couple of beautiful clear (unnamed) lakes "near" our lake when we had climbed the mountain so we went in search of them. The water in these higher altitude lakes was amazingly clear.
Finally it was time to rest! Sleeping completely exposed to the wilderness was nice and waking up to see the stars was worth it. However, next time I might bring a tent to keep the bugs away if for no other reason!
5 comments:
Awwww yay! Love the pictures and your re-telling of the story. You guys are rock stars, after Utah, I decided altitude exercising is not for me =).
Wow! Beautiful pictures, and I love the descriptions! Thanks Justin!
Looks like a tough but fun trip!! Thanks for the pictures and post they are fun to see! Love to know and get a taste of all of everyones adventures!!
Wow! You were in pristine wilderness! How long did the first climb to the top of the mountain take?
When Bri, Emily, and I hiked 1 1/2 hours up to the caves at Timpanogas it was steep also, but paved! Glad your jump to 10,000 feet didn't result in a slippery slide downwards! Did you taste the water at the top? Thanks for the pictures and details! Hope to see more soon!
I don't know if you'll ever look back at this post Mom, but just in case I will answer those questions. :)
The first climb was about 2 hours to the top and another 2 down. I think we only covered a little over a half a mile, but the climbing was tough! Good work on climbing to the Timpanogas. I'm still hoping to hear more about your trip.
I did not taste the water at the top of the mountain as the only water there that I know of was the water Vance left on the rocks after his usual pitstop. We did, however, regularly filter and drink the lake water. And no, no slipper trips down the side of the mountain thankfully!
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