A couple days after Fathers Day, Wes drove into town. Anyone that know Wes and his antsy nature probably can imagine that once he got into town, we were going, and going non-stop with activity after activity. The first major activity we did was to hike up to Timpanogos Cave. I have never been there before.

Let me just note a few thing about the caves:

1-You cannot have strollers up the hiking trail.

2-It is 1 1/2 miles up to the caves, then you go through the caves, then you have to walk down.

3-The trail is essentially straight up (ok on straight up, but dang that thing is steep!!!)

4-The trail has major ledges on a fairly skinny trail, and our children are all under 5.

5-Keep in mind, I was on bed rest most of my pregnancy, and had a baby 6 1/2 weeks ago (it was only like 4 1/2 weeks then). Meaning, I am TOTALLY out of shape!

So, knowing all that, let me just say that I carried Kindle pretty much the whole time as she was much easier for me to deal with than Armour (Wes took him). Spence helped us with the older 2 and we made the whole hike. It was a lot of fun and I am glad I did it. The caves are awesome, though we had a very odd little man as our guide, and that was not the best. Here are a few pictures and facts about the caves:

In the caves

As quoted on the Timpanogos Cave Monument website: "Timpanogos Cave is known for its high concentration of helictites - a spiraling cave formation that seems to defy gravity. Helictites are formed when calcite crystals and dissolved impurities are forced out of a tiny central canal in the helictite by hydrostatic pressure" Here is a picture of them that I took in the caves:

Look at Wes's face-that is how we felt about our guide...

Still in the cave
More helictites.



So, I want to share the story behind the cave discovery and the story of the Great Heart of Timpanogos and the tale of Princess Timpanogos. However, as I had a crappy tour guide and I have only heard the stuff once, I am just borrowing this. I want to make sure to give credit where due, so this comes directly from this website: http://webschool.wash.k12.ut.us/socialstudies/utah/1887timp.html.

"Timpanogos Cave was discovered in the 1900s, but it wasn't created as a national monument until Oct. 14, 1922. And that same year a myth about the cave was created.

The cave's centerpiece is a two-ton stalactite known as the Great Heart of Timpanogos. It doesn't take a lot of imagination to accept this title, particularly if you know the cave's Indian legend.

The myth was actually created by Brigham Young University professor Eugene Roberts in 1922. He made up the tale on the spot while sitting with a group of hikers around a campfire.

The story, a Romeo and Juliet-like tragedy, is about Utahna and Red Eagle during a time of great famine. Long long ago there were Indians that lived on Timpanogos. Every year they gave a sacrifice to the Great God Timpanogos. This one year it was very dry, and the Indians thought the great God was angry.

The Chief had a young daughter, who was very beautiful. She was of age to be chosen. All the young girls in the tribe were blindfolded and given an opportunity to choose a pebble from a pottery dish. The young princess, Utahna, chose the black pebble. It was her fate to go upon the mountain.

All her tribesmen were sad and they wanted someone else to go instead. But, she bade her friends goodbye and ascended the mountain, winding her way towards the highest peak. When she reached the top, she knelt in prayer. Begging for rain, she held her arms outstretched.

A handsome young brave had seen her and followed her. "Please do not jump!" he said. She thought he was the Great God of Timpanogos. He led her to a cave. Here they lived together, because they had fallen in love.

One day he was attacked by a bear and injured. Because he was hurt, she knew he wasn't the Great God Timpanogos. She cared for him until he got well. Then she left one morning very early to ascend the mountain.

When the sun was up, she reached up her arms out and leaped to the crags below. The young warrior gathered her broken body in his arms and carried her to the cave. Here the two hearts were made into one, as we can still see the Great Heart of Timpanogos. If you look closely at the mountain, they say you can still see the outline of Utahna in Mount Timpanogos, where she was found by Red Eagle.

Over 100 years ago no one knew that there were caves hidden in American Fork Canyon. Then on a fall day in 1887, 40-year old Martin Hansen, a Mormon settler from American Fork. Utah. accidentally discovered the first cave. Hansen was cutting timber high on the canyon s south slopes when. according to one popular version of the story, he came across the tracks of a mountain lion. Following the tracks to a high ledge, he found an opening in the rock--the entrance to the small cave that would be named after him.

Hansen did not enter the cave that day, but he returned later to explore. To allow others to get a firsthand look at the cave. Hansen and others hacked out a rough and hazardous trail straight up the mountainside. By all accounts, the first visitors found the cave exceptionally decorated with colorful deposits of flowstone and other formations. Within only a few years. however, souvenir hunters and miners had stripped the cave almost bare, selling much of their stolen treasures to museums and universities and to commercial enterprises who made decorative objects from the cave deposits.

Not until 1915 was a second cave discovered. That summer a group of families from Lehi. Utah came to American Fork Canyon for a days outing. While the rest of the group explored Hansen Cave, teenagers James W. Gough and Frank Johnson climbed around the rocky slope outside. By chance. they stumbled across a hole not far from the entrance to Hansen Cave. It was the entrance to Timpanogos Cave.

Many persons explored the cave, seeing its exquisite formations, including the Great Heart of Timpanogos. but for some reason knowledge of the cave and its whereabouts faded. Then on August 14. 1921, Timpanogos Cave was rediscovered. An outdoor club from Payson. Utah had come to American Fork Canyon to see Hansen Cave and investigate rumors of a second cave. It was Vearl J. Manwill, a member of the club who confirmed the rumors by rediscovering Timpanogos Cave. That very night.... by the light of campfire, [we] discussed our find ' Manwill wrote. and talked about ways and means to preserve its beauty for posterity instead of allowing it to be vandalized as Hansen's Cave had been. The people around that fire dedicated themselves to the cave's preservation.

The excitement of rediscovering the natural wonders of Timpanogos Cave had not yet died when a third cave--Middle Cave --was found that fall. George Heber Hansen and Wayne E. Hansen, son and grandson of Martin Hansen were in American Fork Canyon hunting deer. As they looked through binoculars at the south slope of the canyon from the opposite side they spotted an opening near the other two cave entrances.

Within days they returned to this new cave--Middle Cave--with a large exploring party equipped with ropes. flashlights, and candles. In the party was pioneer cave-finder Martin Hansen. by then 74 years old. The hopes of all those who sought to protect and preserve the caves of American Fork Canyon were realized a year after Timpanogos and Middle Caves were discovered.

In 1922, at the urgings of Utah citizens, the U.S. Forest Service, and others, President Warren G. Harding issued a proclamation establishing Timpanogos Cave National Monument. Since that time the caves have been officially recognized as natural features of national significance and extraordinary scenic and scientific value.

As a side note, I am totally related to Warren G Harding...