Happy Bday Jacob

October 27 was Jacob's bday!

He said he's outgrown Chuckeeee  Cheeeeezzesss so we didn't go there.  And he was at school, so we didn't get to see him much.

We did take him to breakfast for some AUCE (all U can Eat) french toast at Magelby's and yummy candied bacon.  

We also had a big family dinner on Sunday to celebrate with everyone.



We had this special candle that was supposed to open, spin and play music.  Well, it did play music, but it basically just caught on fire.

Doesn't he look excited?

Happy Bday Jacob!  We love you!!!!!!!

Hiking Timp

Mt. Timpanogos is the most recognizable mountain in Utah, and it's the 2nd highest being the backdrop to Provo and Orem and all of Utah County.  At the top, it's 11, 752 feet in elevation - the air is always cold, windy and thin at the top.  The exposed portion of the mountain is all limestone and about 300 million years old.

The hike to the top is close to 7 miles each way, with over a mile in elevation gain and is one of the most visited summit in the entire Rocky Mountains.  There is normally a glacier year round that is near the top, and a large mountain alpine lake - Emerald Lake.  There is a pack of mountain goats on the steep slopes that are friendly and like to be seen.

"They" say you have to hike Timp at least once.  Well, we have never done it, and Jacob is carrying on the tradition - so we will hike it via proxy through him.

The most common way to hike Timp, is to leave in time to see the sunrise at the top. That means leaving around 3am, which is what Jacob and several of his friends did.

Due to years of drought and little snow last year, Jacob said the glacier was almost gone and the lake was very small.  He said it was very very cold at the top and super windy.  But totally worth it.  Pictures cannot even come close to the beautiful and spectacular view and sights from the top.

Sunrise just starting

Looking out towards Orem and Utah Lake

The hut where everyone signs their names.  Jacob's two friends trying to stay out of the wind.  Jacob said they had a hard time signing their names because they were so cold and their fingers were frozen!

On the way down, the goats made themselves known

At the peak!

Panorama pic - click to see it better 

Let's go Shopping!

Jacob is now at BYU, staying in the dorms and his dorm just so happens to be right across the street from my building where I work!

Very convenient  to bring him stuff, have lunch with him, etc.

On the first day of school, a local bank was having an open house and giving away free lunch, so of course, he and his friends went.  

There was a drawing to enter to win a "shopping spree" at a very small, extremely over-priced neighborhood market that students can shop at.  They were giving away 3 30-second shopping sprees.

Well, you already guessed Jacob won one.

He went out the day before and looked at the store to see what he wanted - it's a small store and he didn't want to waste time going in and out of the aisles - so he planned his run just along the edges.

The event was the next morning at 7 and I went to watch, along with one of his friends.  Each person ran separately and could keep whatever they could put in their basket in the 30 seconds.  

The first guy went for cold medicine which was all the way to the back of the store and some other things.  Jacob went for cheese, butter, chicken, nutella because "nutella is expensive" even though he doesn't really eat it.  The other guy went for laundry detergent.

Jacob's basket rang in at $101.  30 seconds isn't that much time, but it was fun to watch and participate in!

Here he is getting cheese and berries

Primrose Overlook

We started out early for our hike. Like Saturday's hike, we went up Provo Canyon.  This time however, we kept going up past Sundance.....past Aspen Grove......to the summit of the Alpine Loop.  The trailhead started at 8050 feet elevation, so pretty high!

This trail was to Primrose Overlook.  The overlook is on the back east side of Mt. Timpanogos - but not on the glacier side.  This is the side most don't see. 

The hike was beautiful - through meadows and aspen groves.  It was pretty steep in some places.  On one of the longer (1/2 mile) steep sections, Shelley said, "This better be worth it".  When we got to the overlook, I asked her if it was worth it.  She said it was. 😊

We had Matt and Marissa with us, and Christian, my cousin who is going to BYU, and Hope, one of Hannah's friends.

The pics don't even come close to seeing the meadows, the views, the mountains, the trees in real life.

Our trail started on the Lame Horse Trail

We then turned on the Horse Flat trail.  Who is naming these trails??

The vegetation was very lush. It was waist high in some places along the trail

Christian taking some time to pose

Along the way were some meadows..although this one looked like water was in it - maybe a small pond in the spring

Christian and Jacob wouldn't stand still

This was along the pretty steep part.  A fallen tree made a great place to rest

We made it!  We saw some hikers hiking up to the summit of Timp.  That hike is not for us. It's about an 5 hour hike one way - it's 15 miles round trip.  Most do it at night so they arrive at the top for sunrise.  There were two small patches of snow left - you can see on in this pic.  Timp at the top is almost 12,000 feet elevation.

The mountains are endless

Can you see the "Summit Hut"?  It's a small white building on the summit of Timp.  There is a log book to sign and it's used in an emergency of someone gets stuck up there in the wind/cold, as the weather changes rapidly.  You can see the top of the building in the upper right part of the pic.

Here is a pic of the Summit Hut looking out over Utah Valley and Utah Lake.  No, we did not take this pic!!! 

Can you see the hut in this pic?

In this pic, the Heber Valley is off to the left.

Jacob and Christian making a cairn 

Here we all are with Timp in the background

Here we are with the valley in the background, us facing Timp

VIDEO:

This can be a loop trail, so on the return trip, we went a different way to complete the loop

This meadow would be so pretty in the Spring, but it was still beautiful the end of summer too

We noticed the smaller aspen trees did not grow up straight.  We are thinking maybe during the winter, the heavy snows push down on the tree and make it grow crooked

The red was our hike. Total distance = 3.8 miles, with an elevation change of 951 feet, which means we were at 9000 feet at the highest point, which would have been the overlook area.  Total hiking time=just over 2 hours.

It was a great hike!