Utah Trip Part IV: Hikes!

On July 10 (a Saturday) my dad came up to Lisa's and rode with us over to cottonwood canyon to go on a short hike with us. Elisa and Gabe refused to come. It was a short, scenic hike with a couple of uphill, sweaty parts but it was worth it because the boys sure loved dipping their feet into the cool stream. It sure was a pretty hike, so I made sure to get plenty of pictures:

Ian and Grandpa on the way up. Ian found a nice walking stick for himself. 

Everyone but me

The views were worth the minimal hiking effort!

The Blaylock kids

Me and my Ian.

Ian and Grandpa by a cool rock formation

Ian and Grandpa enjoying the stream

Cooling off those hot feet!

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The last hike was just a practice/preview of our main hike, which I had set up months ago: Hiking to Mt. Timpanogas cave! I've done the hike a long, long time ago (30 years ago, yikes I was probably 7, Ian's age!). I don't remember too much, other than someone like my dad or an uncle gave me a piggy-back ride up a steep hill. I also remember the tour guide turning off the lights in the cave and it being absolutely, completely pitch black. Other than that, I remember nada. We've explored a few different caves over the last few years (namely the dry caves in Grand Canyon West and Kartchner Caverns near Tucson) so I thought it would be fun for us to see the Timpanogas cave. And by us I meant all of my family who was willing to go. My mom and Michael refused, and Mark wasn't interested, but the rest of us went. Minus Erik, of course who was in Phoenix, working.  For some reason I thought Eric Blaylock didn't want to go, but it was my bad assumption. I took a look at the old texts between Lisa and I and there was no statement saying he didn't want to go. So, I had to buy and extra ticket, which had the tour starting 15 minutes later than the rest of the group. It was no big deal though, they let me go with the group without a second thought. Tootsie's work has a wellness allowance, so she was able get all of our tickets for free! All of them, of course except the one I had to buy separately. 

We all met at the base of the mountain around 3:00. Our tour started at 5:30, which gave us an hour and a half to get up there. It would have been plenty of time if everyone would have gotten there on time, but we didn't start hiking until 3:15ish. We were warned that this was a strenuous hike. It was a mile and a half up hill, with an elevation gain of 1,100 feet! Luckily, it is a paved trail all the way up.

 It wasn't an easy hike, but it was definitely doable (and not too bad) for the physically fit. I'm okay as far as physical fitness but adding the heavy backpack and the heat made for a challenging (but still doable) hike for me, at least. I think my dad and Tootsie could have probably run up the whole way, haha. The kids each took their turn slowing us down. Lisa and Eric dutifully trudged onward. We made sure to take lots of breaks and drink plenty of water. I gave the kids a piece or two of the rainbow popcorn I had bought a few days before to encourage them to keep going. Eventually we made it! The last quarter of the hike was the steepest, but when you can see the end, it's not so bad.

Starting out! You can see Tootsie making sure that Calvin doesn't run off the edge and plummet to his death.

Onward, onward. Getting closer! 

Almost there! You can see my dad behind Ian...he literally had to push him to keep him going! Haha.

We finally made it to the top. It felt nice to sit a spell before going into the cave. It also felt nice as soon as we got in the cave to feel the cool air...at least for a while--we were all donning our jackets by the end. Except Gabe. I don't think he had a jacket, but he never complained about being cold (the cave is around 45 degrees). Speaking of Gabe--we were just about to enter the cave for the tour when I realized Gabe was missing. So, we had to halt the start of the tour in order to look for him. My dad found him lying down on a bench just outside the cave, with no clue everyone had left him. Sigh. Anyway, the cave tour was neat and fun to see. I think everyone enjoyed it. It wasn't nearly as spectacular as the Kartchner Caverns, but still worth seeing, and even worth hiking up to. I think the hike is part of the whole experience though.

We found Gabe! Phew, that was a close one. 

Ian and some soda straws and Stalactites.

The way back wasn't nearly as hard, even though Lisa complained about her bad knees. We took some pictures, drank more water, got in our cars and drove to Tootsie and Mark's house, where he had been smoking a beef brisket.

The Blaylock family. It would make a nice Christmas card, if she bothered to do things like that.

Me, Lisa, and Tootsie (Cindy)

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I had planned to stay the night at Tootsie and Mark's house. Elisa slept in my bed and Ian slept in the little storage room in the office. Mark smoked Brisket for dinner.

Mark and the brisket, Tootsie behind him

Gabe slept in the bed in the office. I'm not sure why he chose to read a book called the Relationship Cure, but I thought it was funny so that's why I took this picture.

The next morning, we visited my mom in the basement of Tootsie's house. She has three kitties that Elisa likes to pet, except for the one named Snowy Toes who doesn't like anyone that's not my mom touching him.

And last but not least, we have this, which I cropped from a picture I took on our way up to the cave:

"I think I might eat a hamburger for dinner. Or die of exhaustion. One of those things."

Okay, I don't really know what goes on in Gabe's head most of the time, but I would say he had just about had enough of that uphill hiking when I took this picture!