MT TIMP

I have wanted to hike Timp with my friend Julie every fall for the past 3 years.  Somehow, I never can go when she does it and I was determined to make it happen this year.  I asked Chanin to join me and she asked her friend, Julie (different Julie!) and we met WAY BEFORE dawn at the mouth of the canyon.  That's when I got the call from Julie and she was sick, sick, sick and not going to be able to come.  So, the three of us, still feeling committed and adventurous, decided to just do it.  I haven't hiked it since college and I don't think Chanin or Julie had done this - but we didn't want our 4 am alarm to be for nothing!

We found the trailhead and hoped we stayed on it in the dark.

Sunrise 

We ran into a little snow before the basin - but once we got to the basin - LOTS OF SNOW.

We ate our lunch and decided this was the end of our hike - a couple of guys had passed us and said the snow was really deep up to the saddle and not worth it.  We believed them....

until we met some other girls who convinced us we had to at least TRY to get to the saddle.  Off we go - through the snow.  They were in sneakers - we had hiking boots and Chanin and I were sharing snow spikes (LOL we each got 1 to fit over one foot, since we were short a pair!)  We decided it didn't hurt to try.

We got to the point - only one last stretch over to the saddle - this is the point that you can look into the valley on the other side of the mountain - and it was scary.  We were all feeling a bit overwhelmed with the snow and the fact that the trail really wasn't packed down.  We watched three other hikers go ahead of us and when one kept slipping and falling a bit down the slope, I quickly decided my goals did not include a life-flight back home.  I just wanted to get down safely and I'll do this hike again next year!  We turned around and it was a slow and difficult process to get back down the slope we had climbed - but thankfully, we did it without incident.

The views on the way down 

Once again, another day full of adventure, sunshine, and great conversation.  We made some new friends en-route and I'm excited to do this next year without snow!