Why Mt. Timpanogos:
Fatherhood (at least in the infant stage) is fun but it is not conducive to travel. So, when I was looking into take my first trip away from my son, it had to be a quick one. I found a flight from Burbank to Provo for just over $100 roundtrip. It would leave on a Friday evening and back on a Saturday night giving me 20 hours in the Provo area.
My original plan was to visit the Timpanogos Caves National Monument, the one National Park Service stamp in the area. But after doing some more research I learned that the larger peak, Mt. Timpanogos, is considered the most famous mountain climb in the entire state of Utah and seemed more epic than the cave. The locals call it Mt. Timp or just Timp.
I then reached out to my friend Andrew Hess (of adopted highway fame) and he conveniently had a Breeze Airline credit to fly to Provo. He also suggested we try to do both the mountain and the cave…because why not.
While doing the cave and the mountain in a single day appeared possible (albeit a very long day) based on online research, it would not leave much wiggle room on the return trip should things take longer than expected. So, I switched my flight to the Sunday morning instead which would also allow us to get a celebratory dinner.
Both the cave tour and mountain (for our specific trailhead) required a permit. I arranged them both about a month before the trip.
July 25, 2026: A Lot of Walking
After landing in Provo at 22:30 on Friday June 24, I waited 30 minutes at the gate for Andrew to arrive. He landed at 23:00. In the baggage claim area, we randomly witnessed a soldier coming home after a tour abroad to see his family. They made a large banner with his face on it. Touching!
Andrew and I then picked up our rental car (the same company A2B that I used in February) and drove to our hotel near the airport. We got a couple hours of sleep.
At 3:30, we woke up to start our wild day. At 4, we headed out to the mountain. The drive took 40 minutes to reach the Timpooneke Trailhead parking lot.
After checking in with the ranger (who verified our reservation), we entered the completely full parking lot. We were on the late side!
We started our hike at 5:00 on the nose.
The Timpooneke Trail is the “easier” of the two trails to the top. It climbs 4,400 feet with a roundtrip distance of about 14 miles. The other trail, the Aspen Grove has slightly bigger stats but the real difference is that Aspen Grove has areas with steeper grades and rougher terrain.
In the darkness, we started up the mountain. The grade was not so steep. The bigger issue was the crowds; we were hiking among huge groups of people. Most of the groups seemed to be co-ed mixes of college-aged students (guessing mostly from BYU) but there were families too. Due to the prohibitions on alcohol and relatively conservative views on dating/courtship, Mormons consider hiking a great way for young Mormons to spend time with people of the opposite sex and there is no more famous hike in all of northern Utah than Timp. The climbing season on Timp is only a couple months in the summer. With most people working jobs Monday-Friday and attending church on Sunday, Saturday is the optimal day to hike.
After approximately an hour hiking through the forest, we reached the two-mile mark on a small plateau. The sky was starting to get light. From here we could see the trail continue through a glacial-carved formation called the Giant Staircase.
Still passing groups right and left, Andrew and I continued up the Giant Staircase and at the four-mile mark we reached the wide-open Upper Timpanogos Basin, covered in wildflowers of many colors. From here we could finally see the peak, still very far away.
Here, we encountered a couple in formal attire. They had done an engagement photoshoot at the peak at sunrise! I guarantee you Maisie would have dumped me if I suggested this.
To escape the basin, we had to climb through a steep rocky band, which had the toughest terrain of the hike thus far where I almost used my hands. From the top of the rock band, we met up with the Aspen Grove hikers and continued up the slope to gain the ridge.
From the ridge, we could see sweeping views of Provo and Utah Lake. The temperature also dropped significantly due to the wind- it was actually a bit cold. Dozens of people were resting and snacking up here because the summit was less than a mile away.
We could also see mountain goats!
The trail continued along the ridge and around a subpeak. Here, the trail turned semi-technical with easy Class II scrambling moves. Like at the start of the hike, the crowds became a concern here. We were hiking through a traffic jam.
Past the crux, there were a few more switchbacks and soon enough we were on the summit!
The summit contains a small shelter covered in Sharpee-ed names. There were at least 100 people on the summit. It was so crowded and all the good places to sit were taken.
Despite the crowds, the views were incredible. On one side we could see Provo and its sprawl. On the other side, down a steep steep cliff, is a dramatic lake.
As we posed for our summit with a large Mt. Timp banner, a paraglider whizzing by just feet from our ears. How did he get here!? And is he planning to paraglide down the mountain?
The descent was much faster than the ascent, but we decided to take a detour and take a side trail around the Upper Timpanogos Basin to get closer views of the mountain. Unfortunately for us, the trail was very rocky and required some difficult boulder hopping, which put a major strain on my feet.
From this point forward, I was aching and ready to get off the mountain. It was a 4-mile slog. By the time we made it back to the car, we were in good spirits and the time was 12:45. We had hiked over 16 miles thus far.
We then drove the 10 minutes down to the cave tour entrance and tried to move our slot up to an earlier time, but they were sold out for the day – again this is the single most popular time of week and year to go.
Rather than slow roast in the 100-degree heat, we drove into civilization to get lunch. I was frustrated that seemingly every restaurant in suburban Provo is a chain with a drive-thru. We did find a one-off BBQ place that was okay.
We also got dirty sodas at Swig, the famous chain from Secret Lives of Mormon Wives because when in Rome.
At 15:00, it was time to head back to the visitor center to start our hike. The weather cooled to 95F. The hike to the cave was straight uphill, gaining 1,100 feet over 1.5 miles. The hike was brutal because of the heat and our sore legs from the 16-mile hike we had already done today. The one saving grace was that the trail was paved, which made it much easier to walk than a trail, but let me be clear: this was not a fun hike for us.
The National Park Service allocates 1.5 hours to walk to the cave entrance before the timed cave tour. We made it up in just 45 minutes so we had to chill outside the cave entrance until our slot. The temperature had dropped 10 degrees during the climb due to the elevation change and the waiting area was shaded so it honestly felt nice to relax.
Our tour was led by a ranger named Shelby who acted and sounded like a female surfer bro. The inside of the caves was a frigid 45F – a whopping 55 degrees colder than the visitor center.
Timpanogos Caves National Monument is actually a series of three caves that are connected underground by artificial tunnels. They are Timpanogos, Middle and Hansen Caves. The tour went through all three.
The caves were all discovered at different times between 1887 and 1921. I truly am in awe of the people who discover caves. These psychopaths were just wandering around these steep cliffsides, found random holes in the earth and decided to explore without any lights or knowledge. Very impressive.
A few months after the (re)discovery of Timpanogos Cave, the locals petitioned the president and they were declared a national monument in 1922. Cave tours started almost immediately after.
Compared to other caves I have visited, the stalagmites and stalactites are not as impressive. There were also not very many humongous rooms. The highlight for me was the other rarer formations that were very pretty such as helictites and cave popcorn. I also enjoyed the “cave yoga” aka dodging rock formations on our walk.
Ranger Shelby did a great job explaining everything in our hour-long tour. Cave tours seem to be centers for corny jokes and this one was no exception. But behind the comedy was serious knowledge beyond that of the typically high schooler leading the tours of commercial show caves.
We were let out exactly an hour later, but now had to walk back down the hill. By this point my legs were hurting so I walked backwards for most of the way. Despite the limitations, we made it back to the car in just 30 minutes.
Exhausted and incredibly sore, we drove back to Provo. In town, we visited the Timpanogos Hiking Co, which will give you a free patch if you can climb Mt. Timp. The company started making the patches in 2024 and since then they have gone viral locally.
For dinner, we went to a (very rare) Native American restaurant called the Black Sheep Café. It was an incredible meal.
At this point, we were exhausted and quickly fell asleep back at the hotel.
The next morning, I got to the airport early for my 7:00 flight back to Burbank and a waiting family.
Final Thoughts:
The Mt. Timp hike is spectacular and deserving of all the hype. There are some logistical hoops to get the parking spot if you want to take the main trailhead, but nothing is overly onerous and there are multiple options if you want get the parking spot.
The cave tour was nice, but there are many other more spectacular caves around the US that don’t require hiking up a mile and a half in the scorching heat.
While we were technically able to do the cave tour and mountain hike in the same day, a more reasonable itinerary would be to do the two in separate days.
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