Today I dragged Rick on our first hike together. That's right, we live next to the mountains and in 3 1/2 years we have never gone for a hike. At first I thought it would be good to go up Big Cottonwood to Lakes Mary, Martha and Catherine. After some googling I saw that some boulder climbing was necessary. This is not an option with Rick's knees. So I did some more googling and decided that we would go to Cascade Springs up American Fork Canyon as it has some boardwalks and other things which make it an easy hike/walk for people with kids.
We picked up some lunch from Harmon's (yes I had my wrap again!) and headed towards the canyon. I asked for a map at the entrance of the trails and up we went. After driving for a bit and trying to read the map I couldn't really figure out our bearings. Once I thought I had, I decided we were going the wrong way. So we turned around and went back to the fork in the road and headed up a different way. Up and up we went...until I realized, I was right the first time. We decided to just park and head up any ol' trail. The map did not mention the difficulty of any trails. We picked one and it started out just fine. Some water off to the side was nice.
Then it started to get steeper and steeper. We all know that I am not in the best shape. I was breathing pretty darn heavy by 20 min into this. We kept going and going but after about 10 min I threw in the towel.We turned around off the totally steep hill and "pulled over" to a little area to eat our lunch in the shade.
Rick noticed that there were a lot of bees by me...I was sitting on a rock that seemed to house a bees'/wasps' nest under neath. Fortunately I didn't get stung.Down we went...my legs felt like jelly. Once we were back in the car I talked Rick into trying to find the original place. After driving for almost an hour we arrived at Cascade Springs.
It was a gorgeous drive. The back of Timpanogos is currently green and there are still spots of snow.Cascade Springs was exactly what I had been hoping for in a hike today. Enough of a climb to get the heart going, beautiful nature and no loose rocks to mess with Rick's knees.
I don't think Rick and I will be hiking any time soon, but it was a great adventure to know what lies in the mountains between Timpanogos and Heber.
