Hiking to Pika Cirque on Mount Timpanogos
My wife and I on a whim decided to try hiking Mount Timpanogos. It’s a good stiff climb which I’ve done thrice before, but it’s been about 10 years since the last time I was up. We drove to Timponeke Campground where one of the trailheads is and we began to hike. Without a map, nor even consulting one before we left.
The trail was beautiful. This shot is after we’d been hiking maybe 20 minutes or so from the trailhead.
For so late in the year, there was plenty of water everywhere on the trail. Trickles and falls were all over the place, and in many places the snow was still 5 to 8 feet deep on the trail.
I did print out some directions, which afterward looking at a map, are easy to understand. At any rate, we hiked up the Giant Staircase until we were in Middle Basin. I thought we were already in Timpanogos Basin, so when I saw the snowfield and a ridge, I thought, “Hey, shortcut.”
So Ana and I climbed the snowfield.
Here’s a shot looking back down the snowfield:
When we reached the top, we found ourselves looking into Pika Cirque, not into the valley as we had hoped. Bummer.
At any rate, I thought I was taking some great video footage of the cirque—we’d certainly climbed far enough to deserve some memories and show-off material. I must have pushed the record button twice, however, since all the video I have of that time is me putting a lenscap on. Bummer!
I calculated we hiked 3.25 miles up and 3.25 miles back with a 3100 ft. elevation gain. Not a bad hike, even if we didn’t get to the top of the mountain or have a good view of the valley. The views we did have were breathtaking, and I suspect fewer than a dozen people a year look into Pika Cirque as we did.
Here’s the route in blue:
And Ana’s and my route in red:
Next time I’m taking a map.