Timpanogos Cave

At the base of the trail, just waiting for daddy. Gavin was really funny, he kept scooting closer to Landon for pictures, but he was making Landon so nervous he couldn't hold still very long.

Finally after living in Utah for over 6 years now, Beau took me up to Timpanogos Cave. We knew it was a paved trail, so we thought we may be able to take a stroller up to the top, but when we got tickets they said strollers weren't allowed. :( That was kind of a bummer, but after getting on the trail we soon realized why. It can get fairly steep, we could tell more on our way down. There are lots of switch backs, and signs for falling rocks. There was even a sign that said:

rattlesnake habitat

stay on trail

stay safe

That was real comforting. AAAHHH!!! I hate snakes, they scare me to death.
We bought our tickets just before 2 in the afternoon, and didn't get back down and to the truck until just after 5 p.m. There were signs that said it takes around 3 hours, but I thought they were just being generous. They were right on with us. There is also about a 40 min. tour through the cave which was pretty cool. Inside the cave it was around 45 degrees and it felt so good after sweating all the way up to the top of the mountain. It is a 1 and 1/2 mile up and down. By the time you go through the cave it came to a total of 3 and 1/4 miles. It was quite the workout. Beau carried Gavin on his shoulders and I carried Landon. The boys did really good. When we first walked into the cave they closed the door and it got pretty dark. Beau and I both got a little nervous that the boys might freak out a little bit, but they loved it. Once we were inside the middle of the cave they turned out ALL the lights. It was completely dark, so dark that your eyes would never adjust. It felt so weird. Landon got a little nervous and found another guy that was on the tour with us. The guy was kind enough to hold his hand until they turned the lights back on. I was holding him, but I guess that wasn't good enough. It was lots of fun and I'm glad that I finally got to go up there. As nice as the tail is, it was a little scary. On the one side of the trail you have the mountain, but on the other side. . . . . . . . .it is down the mountain!!!!! Gavin kept freaking me out, between he and Landon and their clumsiness, I thought for sure one of them was going to get hurt. Gavin did fall and skin his knees a couple of times, but really nothing out of the ordinary. They did really good, we were really impressed.

They call this the 'heart' of Timpanogos Cave. They also said that it weighs close to 2 TONS. Crazy, it doesn't look that big.

This was Landon and me on our way back down the trail. Landon was a little to comfortable on my shoulders. He kept leaning back, so it felt harder to hold him up.

This is a view of American Fork for almost the top of the trail. It was such an amazing view.

sorry it's so blurry, just know that it looked really cool.

Gavin was so wiped out he fell asleep in Beau's arms on the way back down. Luckily, Beau only had to carry him like that for about 1/4 of the way down. His biceps were killing him by the time he was back to the truck.

Beau and I have decided we want to do something similar to this at least once a week. Next week we plan to go up Payson Canyon for a picnic and a little hike up to a small waterfall. We went there a couple of years ago with some cousins and it was lots of fun. We didn't have our boys then, so it should be lots more fun this time.

P.S. do any of my fellow classmates from St. Anthony remember going to the wind caves (i think that is what I remember calling them) on a field trip. I think they are not to far outside St. Anthony. I don't really remember a lot, so maybe it was just a dream.