Hiking Squaw Peak

When you are going throughout your day do you ever stop and take a minute to look at the world around you? Do you ever look at the highest point wherever you are and say to yourself, "I'm going to climb that."? Maybe I'm weird, but this is something I do all the time. If there is a mountain to be climbed, I want to climb it.

Living in Utah I found myself surrounded by mountains and I wanted to climb all of them. Unfortunately, due to weather and a move coming up this didn't happen. However, Andy and I were able to get out there and climb Squaw Peak on May 24th (the weekend before we moved).

Having never hiked Squaw Peak before we weren't quite sure where the trail head was. We parked in the wrong parking lot and hiked an extra half a mile or so in search of the trail. Don't worry though, we found it. We always do.

Andy starting out on the trail.

Round trip the hike was 7-8 miles long and it was a steep one. We had our trekking poles with us and we were both really grateful that we brought them; they were put to good use. The hike up was beautiful! We hiked though trees and meadows and crossed over a stream several times.

Close to the top.

The closer we got to the top, the deader it looked.

For some reason the bumble bees were attracted to Andy and one would come and fly in circles around Andy's feet. He would step on it or hit it until it died with his trekking pole and a few minutes later another one would come. Each time a bee would come, we would stop so he could kill it. The killing of the bees really slowed us down. For those who don't know I am terrified of bees so this was a scary hike for me in that regard.

The view from the top was amazing!

The view from the top was amazing! You can see the Provo Temple, Mt. Nebo (still need to climb this one, it still had too much snow on it), Mt. Timpanogos, and Eagle Mountain.

Looking down the cliff face almost makes one dizzy. It's kind of crazy to think that we climbed that much in elevation over the course of just a few miles.

Andy feeling proud that we made it to the top.

We did it!

I love this photo because you can see my arm muscles that's a first.

  

We didn't stay on the summit for very long because the sun was starting to set and we didn't want to encounter any animals on our way down (bears and cougars). I'm so glad we had our trekking poles for the hike down; my legs were shaking on the way down with the poles. I can only imagine how bad they would have shook without them.

We hiked part of the way out with our headlamps. As we hit a part of the trail that we gravel I couldn't help but notice shiny green eyes in the rocks. I quickly discovered that these green eyes belonged to hobo spiders. I was amazed how many spiders there were, they were kind of creepy. **Note to self** Don't go walking on this trail in sandals.

We both really enjoyed ourselves. This is one hike I would definitely do again!

*There is something about doing something that seems impossible and daunting to me that I love-- maybe that is where my love of hiking comes from. Or maybe it is just that I enjoy being in nature and taking in the world around me. I feel so blessed to be surrounded by so many beautiful places that God created for me to enjoy.