Timpanogos Cave

“We are not meant to spend the rest of our lives underground. 

We need to go home and tell a strange story 

that no one will believe.” 

― Courtney M. Privett, Cavelost

Mount Timpanogos, or Timp, is the second highest mountain in Utah's Wasatch Range.  To get to the top is a grueling hike that takes massive amounts of energy and will-power.  Luckily, we didn't go to the top.  To reach the famous-to-those-who-know-about-it cave on Timp, you only have to hike 1.5 miles up and the trail is paved with lots of rest points.

To get a tour inside the cave:

First, it's apparently popular and even when I was looking for tickets three weeks in advance, most the tour times only had a couple slots available.  Soooo, get your tickets in advance.If you decide last minute that you need an adventure, get up to the visitor's center as EARLY as possible and you might be able to get 1 or 2 people into a tour.  

The rangers give you one and a half hours to hike the trail.  The average person shouldn't need that long.  We stopped more times then necessary just to enjoy views and we still made it within an hour.  However, as you can see from the next picture, while its a nice, paved trail, it is a constant incline, so for people who struggle with uphill, it could become difficult.  Or for children.  If you have children, you can take a lot of rest breaks thanks to having a whole hour and a half to hike.

The good news for those quick and slow hikers is the rangers are pretty good about asking for people from other groups if there are extra slots available in the cave tour times.  So whether you're early or late, they'll try and get you in as soon as possible..  Our tour time was 11:30, but we were up there by about 10:50 and the ranger let us in the 11:00 time.  This was pretty lucky because they go in order, so they'd asked for anyone from the 11:15 tour and then for people from our 11:30 time.

The inside of Timp Cave is pretty awesome.  Yes, it sucks that you can't go off the path and YES, it was very difficult for me to not touch anything.  Buuut, I get it.  It's an incredible monument and we need to protect it.  There are stalactites and stalagmites and even helictites, which are like distorted stalactites that look like little branches or twigs.  There's also some areas where there's cool coloring because of minerals and there's some places inside where there are pools of water.

Overall, I'd say it was perfect inspiration, especially for the underground scenes I'm working on for my novel.  If you're a novelist or anyone who needs a boost to your imagination, or even if you just like to be inspired by the world around you, this is a must stop.