At the beginning of the summer, I started taking hikes with my friend Janice Snow. We tried to go once a week, but it didn't always work out. We slowly built up the distances until a few weeks ago when we hiked to Desolation Lake, a total of 10 miles round trip. The goal, besides the awesomeness of hiking, was to train for Timpanogas.
Technically, you don't have to train to hike Timp. You can just go, spur of the moment. But, that isn't a very good idea. 18 years ago, just after starting my second year of BYU, an apartment of boys came over to visit my apartment of girls. It was late at night. They asked if we wanted to hike Mt. Timpanogas the next day.
YES! (I think what I thought was, "What's that? Hmm, sounds fun. And these boys are so cute!")
It took us until around midnight to pack some food and prepare our bags. I think we slept for a couple of hours, or tried to anyway. I remember leaving around 3 or 4 in the morning. I can't remember which one. We drove in the quiet dark and arrived at the parking lot. The thing I remember most about that hike is actually the beginning. I had never seen the stars like that. The sky was suddenly more white that black. I was looking at a massive bowl of glowing cookies and cream ice cream. I still feel in awe of the Universe when I remember that sky.
I don't remember hiking in the dark, but obviously we did, for a couple of hours at least. What I do remember is that I was not prepared. I was tired. I had on really awful tennis shoes. They had NO tread on them, due to being 3 or 4 years old. I think I was wearing blue jeans, a tshirt, and a sweatshirt, and probably a hat. I remember enjoying the hike, and also fearing for my life several times when I slipped. I know that I am a dramatic person, but I am being completely honest when I tell you that slipping on that hike can be deadly. I truly almost slid off the mountain every time I fell. It was scary.
What I don't remember is if we went to the peak or stopped at the Saddle. I think we stopped at the saddle, which is still a ways from the true peak, but it is on the ridge and the view is breathtaking. What I do remember is that the entire trip took something like 11 hours of hiking. I got back and somehow was transported to my grandmother's house. I found her couch and didn't get up until someone took me back to my apartment. I could not move. To this day, other than after surgery, I cannot remember feeling so exhausted. I had met my physical limit.
So, of course I wanted to go again at almost 37 years old, you know, to see if I could do it.
This time, being older and wise, I prepared much more carefully. I wore good shoes and exercise clothing that didn't restrict my movements. I applied bug spray. I carried sunscreen the whole way, but kind of forgot to put it on. So, I'm sunburned. I guess I didn't want to be completely perfect just yet. I brought 3 large water bottles, toilet paper, ziploc bags, a trash bag, food, a first aid kit, a hat, and a friend that I trusted would help me get up to the top. She prepared just as carefully. We also brought some scriptures to memorize, written on note cards. They were randomly selected Scripture Mastery from the Book of Mormon.
The first one that we worked on became somewhat of our theme. Helaman 5:12
"And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the son of God, that ye must build your foundation, that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwinds, yea, when all his hail and mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the foundation upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, whereon if men build they cannot fall."
I thought about this scripture for most of the hike. I thought about the storms that the devil sends forth, the temptations, the trials, and the troubles. We talked about what exactly it would mean to be caught up in one of those storms and their intense power. Satan is real. His temptations are real. They are as real as the mountain we were climbing. The danger of the devil is as easy to fall into as it is to slip on some sand. At least 50% of the hike to Timpanogas peak is extremely dangerous. One fall to the wrong side, and, well, that's it for you. Parts of the path are very easy to walk on, then suddenly become covered in unstable rocks of all sizes. There are portions where you must climb with both hands grabbing hold of rocks, hoping they don't slide. There is a part where you cross a field of rocks and boulders, pretty much a rockslide meadow, not knowing which way to go, just looking for the next cairn built by someone who knew the way. As soon as you cross that, the steep climb to the Saddle begins. This was probably the most dangerous part of the hike. It was steep and sandy. Handholds were too far apart. We grasped anything we could, often just spreading our fingers and scrambling in the dirt. And then came the solid stone of the mountain. From the Saddle to the peak, the ground was pure stone. Our feet could land firmly and not slip. But it was still treacherous. One wrong step, and the drop would be immense and deadly. But, the view was breathtaking. There was no way we were stopping before we reached the highest peak.
We kept climbing. Very slowly. Very carefully. We wanted to make it home to our kiddos. After nearly 8 hours, we reached the summit. At that point, I still felt pretty good. Janice was excited to be at the top, but had been feeling unwell for the entire hike. She pushed through like a champ. Just before reaching the top, we stopped to rest and I bowed my head and prayed, probably closer to God in real physical distance than I've ever been. I asked Him for safety. I asked Him to give Janice the strength to make it the rest of the way, to bless us for our preparation, and especially to make our feet sure for the trip down. The thought of going down what we had just come up was rather sobering. I really really wanted to make it home unscathed.
After enjoying the top for a while, we started our trip down. It was 3:33. We had started up around 7:30 a.m. I didn't think it would take too long to get down. Silly Becky.
After we made it down to the Saddle, we skied down the sandy slope by sitting on our feet. Seriously. It was the only safe way to get down. It was just impossible to find stable footing. We just slipped right on down. Then we crossed back over the rock field. I slipped once and grabbed Janice's backpack. It saved me. Luckily, we both stayed upright. I thanked her for saving my life and apologized for trying to take her down with me.
From that point on, it was pretty smooth hiking. But, it was long. Different sites list different times and distances. We certainly could have gone faster and taken less breaks, but were weren't there to race people. We were there to experience it and hoped not to damage ourselves too badly while doing it. It took us just under 5 hours to get back to my car. The last 30 minutes were in the dark. We could just barely make out our feet by the moonlight, our feet that were practically running at this point, with no conscious effort on our parts. After a bit, we had to force ourselves to slow down because we kept stubbing out toes. We were exhausted. We had reached the point where we knew that our spirits were stronger than our bodies and our spiritual strength was going to get us down.
And it did. When there is no choice but to keep on going, you keep on going. All summer long we have been telling ourselves, "I can do hard things." It's just just about physical and it's not just about spiritual. It's really about the combination of both of them, the team, the control of the soul.
