Kendrick and I wanted to do something different for labor day (and when I say different, I mean we weren't planning on staying home watching Netflix). it didn't take long for Kendrick to stumble upon the brilliant idea of touring Timpanogos Cave! going on a little adventure sounded like the perfect solution to both of us.
labor day ending up being absolutely beautiful and we were thrilled that we'd be spending a majority of the day outside, enjoying the weather. Kendrick spent the morning playing golf with his dad and brother, and I had fun sleeping in, watching One Tree Hill, and having breakfast with my family. once twelve 'o clock hit, Kendrick was home and we were on the road to Timpanogos.
in retrospect, going the Provo/Sundance route was significantly longer than American Fork canyon, but in our defense... we didn't even know that American Fork Canyon existed, and that it connected to Sundance. with this little detour, we ending up being thirty minutes late to our cave tour. the nice lady at the front desk explained to us that we could join a later group, and after writing a big scary "LATE" on both our tickets (she made sure to highlight it as well), she told us we should start hiking up the trail to the cave, to ensure that we would be on time for the 3:30 group.
for starters, Kendrick and I were both completely unaware that there was a "hike" in order to get to the cave. I remember when Kendrick first threw the idea of Timpanogos cave at me, he mentioned a "short dirt road", which he honestly thought it was! neither of us are hikers, and I can say that neither of us were ready for the 1.5 hour, three mile hike up the mountain.. we were so not ready.
this was about five minutes into the hike- we got this!
1/2 of the way there... trying to keep positive.
but in all honesty- it was fun! it was a challenge and definitely took some team work (switching off who carried the backpack every twenty-minutes), but when we finally got to the top- we were darn proud!
the cave tour was super cool, and super cold. while we weren't prepared for the hike, we were prepared for the temperature drop in the cave, and each brought a couple of warm jackets. we saw all kinds of funky stalagmites, and my favorite were the ones that you could put a flashlight up to, and the whole thing would glow. the variety of textures that you see on cave walls completely astounded me, and they are all referred to as different types of food, like "cave bacon", or "cave popcorn". whoever named them was super, super hungry.
this giant stalagmite is called the "heart of Timpanogos", as it really does look like a heart hanging down!
the hike back down the mountain was a breeze, and we even jogged about one-third of it. my favorite was jogging past people who were panting and wheezing as they made their way up the mountain, because we looked super die-hard, and little did they know that we were practically crawling up that mountain only an hour ago.
I already can't wait for the next adventure with my best friend, even if it leaves my bum feeling bruised and sore the next morning like this one did.... (TMI?)
probably.
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