Oh, the places you go...Hiking!

Utah has a LOT of fun hikes all over the place. Some short some long, some really close to where we live, some not so much. My parents live up at the base of this mountain.

It's called squaw peak. If you go around the back of the mountain there is a trail up to the tip of the peak but Damon, Ian and I decided to blaze our own trail. 

Look at us so excited!  Little did we know what awaited us.  The mountain was extremely steep the whole way up. Some points we had to hold hands and help each other keep footing....okay this was mostly me, but it WAS slick and my shoes weren't as good with traction as theirs were. 

Damon did slip a bit down the mountain, but faked it off as a 'resting drink break' uh huh... There were really thick brush once we got past the slick steep part.

 There were drop offs

& faces of rock we had to climb

This part freaked me out.  

Some of the rocks would break off as you grabbed it for support and some of these rock faces hung over nothing but a straight drop down. 

I was constantly telling Ian and Damon to be careful. I'm sure I was a little annoying but I wanted everyone to be safe!

Ian was Mr. buff on this hike.

We finally met up with the actual trail as the sun was setting. Tired and about as excited as we look in this picture.

This is up at the peak. Ian took a long awaited rest. Notice the hook on the rock for repellers. that would be so crazy fun to do!

Took us 3 1/5 hours to make it to the top.

Here was the view. Really pretty. Didn't get to enjoy it too long because we had to race the sun down the mountain. We took the designated trail down the mountain. Took only an hour and a half.  We were REALLY sore the next day.  When it was over I was glad we went, but during it I was sure we were going to fall to our death. Was a good adventure!

Another really fun hike is Timpanogos caves! you climb up a few paved switch backs to the top of a mountain. This leads into a collection of really cold caves. The caves have lots of stalactites and stalagmites, as well as other fun formations.

 I can't remember the name of this hike, but it so beautiful. We went when the snow was still trying to melt.  It ends up at a collection of lakes. We hiked for three hours and still had maybe 1 1/5 to 2 hours left before we reached the end. We had to turn back because the sun was going down and the snow was getting to deep and hard to hike through in our attire.  Hopefully we will make it back soon!