Rock Solid & Immovable

On Tuesday dear hubby asked if I would like to do something together “this day”. When I suggested that we hike to the Timpanogos Caves he was very enthusiastic. So after checking them out online and getting the proper attire for the day we headed north about 20 miles to the American Fork canyon to the trail head for the caves.
Happy Hikers at the start

Timpanogos Caves is a National Monument that was established in 1922 but the first of the three caves that make up this monument was discovered in 1887 by Martin Hansen.


We purchased our tickets for the cave tour (at the top of the trail) at the bottom of the trail (a smart marketing plan!) and started up the mountain. It is an excellent paved trail about 8-10’ wide and very well maintained. They have points of interest along the way. For $1 I purchased a little booklet that described each of these points. We hadn’t gone up the trail very far before Gordon realized that this hike was way over his head! At the ¼ mark he turned around and went back down to the bottom to wait for me to complete the trip (he had LOTS of company!)















Above- Daisies growing from a rock. Right- American Fork Canyon



With that every present “How-hard-can-it-be?” attitude I continued. I’ve never made a solo hike before and it was actually very pleasant. I didn’t have to worry that my short legs were slowing everyone down or that I was walking too fast for someone else. I stopped at each of the points of interest and read the description.

Root pinched and bleeding but hanging on.

Almost immediately I was aware of how close I felt to nature and our loving Heavenly Father who created this beautiful world for us. I grew up with an appreciation for rocks (sounds silly, I know) and I never cease to be amazed at how plants can grow seemingly right out of the rock. THIS is what made me come up with the title of this post. I was mentally composing as I continued my accent. Here are these trees; giant pines, cedars and firs, that have all woven their roots so deeply in the rocks that at times I could see that it hurt. But there they were nonetheless- Rock Solid & Immovable. This was so poignant to me, given the re-visited grieving I’ve been through this last month. Again I see the wonderful lesson that if we are planted firmly on the Rock (The Gospel of Jesus Christ) that even though the storms rage, the floods come, etc. we will still be left standing when the storm is over.















Above- Almost to the top and still smiling. Right- cave entrance.



I continued up the trail with a renewed appreciation for all of the flora and fauna I came across. My kids always know that there will be photos of critters and flowers when I am out with my camera.




Above- Chipmunk and lizard
Left- More wildflowers
Right- Baby pine, hanging and climbing.















I have visited Timpanogos Caves once before, when I was about 8 years old and we came to Utah to hear my sister, Ann, sing in the Tabernacle at General Conference, but I remembered little of that visit. I was excited to see all of these wonderful creations with my 55 year-old eyes. I wasn’t disappointed with what I found at the top! (I just wish I’d put on my glasses to properly see my digital photos and realized that they weren’t as in focus as I wanted without the flash & on the smart ISO setting. But seeing as how I returned with 184 shots, maybe that’s ok!) These formations are amazing taking thousands of years to create.



Top left- Stalactite and stalagmite meet in the middle, Top right- Helictites; Bottom left- Drapery formations also called bacon formations; Bottom right- The Heart of Timpanogos





After exiting the beauty of the cave the journey was only half over! I still had to navigate my way down the mountain. See the arrow? Yeah- that's where I needed to end up! By the time I was half way down I was hit with the Jelly-Legs Curse and looked around for Malfoy (or Crabbe and Goyle or even Harry Potter!)











I eventually made my way down, enjoying the scenery from the opposite direction and in the fading light toward evening.

I found Gordon waiting at the bottom. He'd killed time in the visitors center and drowned his sorrows at the snack bar with a double cheeseburger!

We continued our trip by taking the Alpine Loop that snakes its way from American Fork canyon around the back-side of Timp, past Sundance and ending up in Provo Canyon.


Will I make this hike again? YOU BETCHA! but not until my muscles stop hurting from this trip!