Never camp close to the trail

It was 3 pm on Friday and I was ready to shut down my Mac Book and head out the door. Just a few more emails and I was packing the car with my backpack, hiking boots, water-filled Nalgene bottles, bug spray, and the rest was good lightweight backpacking stuff that Jodi had. Ready, set, go! We were off up the mountain. Weather was perfect. Not too many people on the trail. Little Flynn, Jodi's mini dachshund, was having a good time and was serving as our entertainment. It started to get dark but the moon was so bright so we kept hiking to the upper meadow so we wouldn't have so long to hike in the morning. We wanted to get to the top of the mountain. We got to the meadow, chose a spot, threw out our sleeping pads and sleeping bags, and tried to fall asleep. Nope, too cold. So we set up the tent...much better. Then 3 am hit.

Who knew Mt. Timpanogos was the hot spot that early on a Saturday morning. Apparently all the recreation class students from SLCC, BYU, and the U decided to night hike it up to the peak before sun up. Okay so maybe they weren't all students but whoever they were, they were loud, rude, and there was an army of them clomping their way past our tent. They would even pass and notice the tent, shine their flashlights, and begin talking louder. I even opened the tent up and asked them to be quiet because "we're trying to sleep here." What did I get in return? A sassy girls voice saying, "well, we're trying to hike here!" Are you kidding me? I felt like slapping her but it was too cold and I was too tired. I just wanted to get some sleep. But from 3 am till 8, when we finally couldn't take it anymore, we got up.

It was probably a combination of no sleep, not enough water, and my legs turning to jell-o that we decided to skip the hike to the top and head back down the mountain. And I'm glad we did. Going up further would have added another 4-5 hours of hiking. So we headed down the mountain which was uneventful...besides my graceful faceplant about half way down...right in front of five hikers that were coming our way. I tried to stop myself but the weight of my backpack kept me moving just enough to press not only my stomach and chest into the dirt, but my entire face as well. Nice Lauren. I guess I'm going to need more Cliff bars and Soy Joys to keep me nimble next time.