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Hi, my name is Allison. I'm sixteen years old. I am a junior at Orem High School in Utah. I would like to tell you about my hike up Mount Timpanogos. Mount Timpanogos, or "Timp" as we like to call it, is a high mountain just five miles from my home. It is almost 12,000 feet high and very steep. It's a beautiful mountain. On Labor Day holiday this September, my brother-in-law, Mike, took me and my brother Daniel, his friend Cameron, and my friends Marie and Brittany on a hike to the top of Timp. We left at five o'clock in the morning. We drove up Provo Canyon to Aspen Grove where we began our hike up the mountain. The distance to the top of the mountain was nine miles. Our round trip was over eighteen miles. We started hiking at six-thirty and arrived at the top at one-thirty in the afternoon. It took us seven hours to make the climb up. We rested and ate our lunch at the top by "the shack" which was built there many years ago. We started down at three o'clock in the afternoon and arrived at the bottom by six o'clock in the evening.

There are many interesting sights to see on this hike. One of the neat things we saw was mountain goats. They live high on the mountain. One walked right in front of us. We passed by a waterfall. I took a picture of Cameron standing in front of it. There were many open meadows with lots of pretty wildflowers everywhere. About half way up the mountain we arrived at Emerald Lake. It's a beautiful clear lake with a snow glacier running into it from the mountain above. When we got higher on the mountain we could see the beautiful sunrise to the east of us. On top we could see Deer Creek reservoir on the east side of the mountain, and the cities of Orem and Provo and Utah lake on the west side. I could actually see where my house in Orem was from the top of the mountain.

The highlight of the trip was our slide down the glacier above Emerald Lake. I took a picture of Daniel sliding down it. Other high points were: arriving at the top and looking in all directions for hundreds of miles, climbing with my family and friends, seeing the beautiful scenery, looking at the wildlife, and the challenge of making the trip.

If you ever take a hike like this, be sure to dress warmly, take plenty of water and high-energy food. You should also wear good hiking boots and make sure you go with someone who knows the trail. Mike has hiked Mount Timpanogos dozens of times and knows what to do.

I hope you enjoyed reading about my hiking adventure. If you want to learn more about hiking Timp, you can search for information on the internet. Visit these web pages about Provo and Timpanogos. Good Luck!