Devin Ashby
Don't Bust The Crust!
- Joined
- Mar 4, 2016
- Messages
- 68
I am not the first, nor the last that will take a baby out hiking to some of Utah's high peaks, but last weekend was a big deal for our little family, and I thought I'd share our experience.
My wife and I have an eight month old daughter, named Maylin. As a family that is super active and "outdoorsy" we decided to make a hefty goal to prove to ourselves that getting out into the mountains wouldn't be too difficult and change our lifestyle. We made a goal to summit as many 11,000 foot peaks in the Wasatch range before October as we could. Last Saturday was our first attempt at an 11,000 foot peak.
We decided to start with Timpanogos, knowing that it is a popular trail and if we got into trouble, we would have plenty of people to call for help as needed. Fortunately that wasn't necessary. But let me tell you, that hauling a 8 month old in a pack up Timp or 11,000 feet for that matter was not easy. Something about how the kid carrier packs distribute weight that makes long hikes more tiring.
Our hike started at 7:30am from the Timpanooke trailhead. Easily the most popular trailhead of Timpanogos. I grew up in Orem and it had been over 10 years since I had hiked the mountain, so I was excited to get out!
The hike was slow and steady. We eventually made it up to the basin, sat down and my wife nursed the kid to make sure she was nice and hydrated and that the altitude wasn't taking a toll on her. She had never been above 9,000 feet outside of a car, so we were being pretty cautious and making sure she was safe and happy.
About 12:30pm, we started making a push to the saddle. Honestly we were pretty dang tired, and with the high amount of snow still on the trail, it made it a little interesting walking to make sure I didn't slip and fall and injure Maylin.
By 2pm, we finally made it up to the saddle and decided to call it quits at that point. All we really wanted to do was say that we got Maylin up to 11,000 feet. The altitude was starting to take a toll on us a little and given the time, we just decided to start walking down.
Not 10 yards from the saddle, a older couple was hiking down, and the gentleman in front of us started to walk across a very slippery section snow. Next thing we saw was him slip, and hit his chest into the walking stick (tree branch) he had carried with him. He rolled about 30 yards and slid until finally stopping. It's a good thing he stopped, cause had he rolled any further he would have rolled at least 100 to 150 more feet over rocks and snow. Basically could have got pretty banged up. When he finally stopped he was grabbing his chest and hyper ventilating. We thought he had severely injured himself. Others in our party ran down to him and helped him get sitting up straight. He thinks he broke a rib from the stick gabbing him in the chest. He was having a really hard time breathing deep breaths. Another guy with our party gave him his trekking poles so he could get down easier. They were hiking to Aspen Grove, so we don't know what eventually happened to his chest, but he did make it down safely.
Timpanogos is just such an amazing mountain that I'm glad I was able to share with Maylin at such a young age. We've adjusted our goal a little and probably won't be doing many more 11,000 foot peaks because of how long of a day it turns into. 12 miles of hiking and 9 hours on the trail was a little rough. Looking at more 10,000 range peaks that are shorter than 12 miles of hiking.
My wife and I have an eight month old daughter, named Maylin. As a family that is super active and "outdoorsy" we decided to make a hefty goal to prove to ourselves that getting out into the mountains wouldn't be too difficult and change our lifestyle. We made a goal to summit as many 11,000 foot peaks in the Wasatch range before October as we could. Last Saturday was our first attempt at an 11,000 foot peak.
We decided to start with Timpanogos, knowing that it is a popular trail and if we got into trouble, we would have plenty of people to call for help as needed. Fortunately that wasn't necessary. But let me tell you, that hauling a 8 month old in a pack up Timp or 11,000 feet for that matter was not easy. Something about how the kid carrier packs distribute weight that makes long hikes more tiring.
Our hike started at 7:30am from the Timpanooke trailhead. Easily the most popular trailhead of Timpanogos. I grew up in Orem and it had been over 10 years since I had hiked the mountain, so I was excited to get out!
The hike was slow and steady. We eventually made it up to the basin, sat down and my wife nursed the kid to make sure she was nice and hydrated and that the altitude wasn't taking a toll on her. She had never been above 9,000 feet outside of a car, so we were being pretty cautious and making sure she was safe and happy.
About 12:30pm, we started making a push to the saddle. Honestly we were pretty dang tired, and with the high amount of snow still on the trail, it made it a little interesting walking to make sure I didn't slip and fall and injure Maylin.
By 2pm, we finally made it up to the saddle and decided to call it quits at that point. All we really wanted to do was say that we got Maylin up to 11,000 feet. The altitude was starting to take a toll on us a little and given the time, we just decided to start walking down.
Not 10 yards from the saddle, a older couple was hiking down, and the gentleman in front of us started to walk across a very slippery section snow. Next thing we saw was him slip, and hit his chest into the walking stick (tree branch) he had carried with him. He rolled about 30 yards and slid until finally stopping. It's a good thing he stopped, cause had he rolled any further he would have rolled at least 100 to 150 more feet over rocks and snow. Basically could have got pretty banged up. When he finally stopped he was grabbing his chest and hyper ventilating. We thought he had severely injured himself. Others in our party ran down to him and helped him get sitting up straight. He thinks he broke a rib from the stick gabbing him in the chest. He was having a really hard time breathing deep breaths. Another guy with our party gave him his trekking poles so he could get down easier. They were hiking to Aspen Grove, so we don't know what eventually happened to his chest, but he did make it down safely.
Timpanogos is just such an amazing mountain that I'm glad I was able to share with Maylin at such a young age. We've adjusted our goal a little and probably won't be doing many more 11,000 foot peaks because of how long of a day it turns into. 12 miles of hiking and 9 hours on the trail was a little rough. Looking at more 10,000 range peaks that are shorter than 12 miles of hiking.
