Utah MTB » Timpanogos

Timpanogos Chimney Climb

Bill Messick — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 07:59:04 +0000

I have always know this part of the trail as “The Chimney” it is a stiff climb that zig zags up the cliff-side just below the summit of Timpanogos.

Timpanogos Ice Cave

Bill Messick — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 04:32:34 +0000

This year there was so much snow on Timpanogos that we had to hike across a giant snow flow to the falls where there was a very cool ice cave!

Push To The Summit 2011

Bill Messick — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 21:57:26 +0000

This is a short clip of me and West last push to the summit of Timpanogos on 8-14-2011, you will see Sam is with us and I’m using my new Go Pro HD

Timpanogos Summit Photos 2011

Bill Messick — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 21:53:06 +0000

Timpanogos Summit 2011 with West and Sam using the new Go Pro HD Hero.

Day 4 Mount Timpanogos Summit Video

Bill Messick — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 00:40:33 +0000

Day 4 and still smoke free and did a summit up Mount Timpanogos with Bubby and Sam, took us about 8.5 hours with no trail running….bummer!

On the way I did get some great photos of the Mountain Goats that live up there. What I have heard is they weren’t always there but brought in from Wyoming or maybe it was Montana but my point is they really don’t belong there, the ones on Nebo are gray not white like theses.

Mount Timpanogos is the second highest mountain in Utah’s Wasatch Range (second to Mount Nebo). Timpanogos rises to an elevation of 11,749 feet (3,582 m) above sea level in the Uinta National Forest (now part of the Wasatch-Cache National Forest). With 5,269 feet of topographic prominence, Timpanogos is the 47th-most prominent mountain in the contiguous United States.

The mountain towers over Utah Valley, including the cities of Lehi, Provo, Orem, Pleasant Grove, American Fork, Lindon and others. The exposed portion of the mountain is made up entirely of limestone and dolomite from the Pennsylvanian period, and is about 300 million years old. Heavy winter snowfall is characteristic of this portion of the Wasatch Range, and avalanche activity is common in winter and spring.

The word Timpanogos comes from the Timpanogots Ute tribe who lived in the surrounding valleys from A.D. 1400. The name translates as rock (tumpi-), and water mouth or canyon (panogos).

Timpanogos Summit Photos

Bill Messick — Wed, 25 May 2011 20:33:07 +0000

Photos taken on 7-25-2010 on Timpanogos Summit trail from the Timpooneke side.

Day 5 – The Day After The Summit Hike

Bill Messick — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 09:38:23 +0000

Day 5 of my smoke free endeavor started off a little slow and sore, the rain came in around 4:00 pm and gave a fresh sent to the air. Long about 7:30 pm I decided to get to Big Springs Hollow and run a 8k loop, still plenty sore from the 14 mile trip to the summit of Timpanogos the day before. What better way to deal with the pain than to push it out with more pain, yea I know but seems to work in my head. I got to the parking lot about 8:00 and knew I had about 1 hour 20 minutes till dark and I wasn’t carrying a light this time so I needed to get around the loop before the lights went out.

My lungs are recovering very well now that I haven’t smoked in 5 days and I stay very active every day I can. The ground was wet from the rain and there was a few sprinkles coming down as I cleared the first big meadow and about 2 minutes ahead of my normal time. Right away I have noticed I have better lung power going on, I don’t seem to be struggling to get air as bad as I did even just 4 days ago.

I got over the hill scramble and started down into the next meadow where there was a bunch of deer grazing and watching Sam and I very closely, just in case we got hungry. I toped out over the wood bridges of the springs in about 42 minutes and was heading down to the campground at the top when it started to rain. There were tow people kissing in the rain on the bridge at the camp site as I crossed it, scaring the hell out of them, sorry about that! The trip down only took me about 14 minutes, I was running as fast as I could to get out of the rain but at the same time it felt so good and cool.

I hit the bottom at about 1 hour 2 minutes and the rain stopped, great run in the rain!