Mount Olympus! (9,000 feet elevation)

Directly out the back windows of Tucker's parents' house is a particularly large mountain, Mt. Olympus. You can't help but stare at it, and Tucker has often thought how much he wanted to hike it. So this summer, that thought became a reality!

Tucker's parents - having often stared out the window and thought the same thing - decided to join him on this endeavor. They are (a young) 65 years old, and were a little nervous if they were up to the challenge! Soon, my sis-in-law Maren, my nephew CJ and myself joined the challenge.

So we woke up dark & early on Saturday morning (4:00 am) and headed toward the mountain to start our hike by 5:00. We were excited as we anticipated the 6+ mile round trip hike, which extended nearly 5,000 feet elevation from our starting point. It was estimated to take around 6 hours round trip, and since Tucker is an excellent hiking guide, he made sure we were equipped with plenty of water, food and snacks.

It was a beautiful ascent..the weather was gorgeous and actually felt as though an air conditioning was blowing on us! I loved it, and it made it so much more tolerable to hike that steep of a grade. CJ (who is 23 and in great shape) was behind me and I kept apologizing to him for needing to stop and catch my breath because I couldn't even hear him breathing! He could have done that hike twice as fast as us, I'm sure.

We reached the ledge just before the top in nearly four hours, and still had another 20+ minutes to go....but that last 20 min turned into some rock-climbing. By that point, I was so worn out and we were SOOOO high up, I was ready to just wait there while everyone else went to the very top. I'm so glad I didn't stop there. The last part was more technical, but my favorite part for sure. It was amazing to be THAT high up and to see the entire Salt Lake Valley - and so much more! Just incredible.

Once we ate our food and took some pictures, we started our descent. By this point, some nausea had started in for me (I'm still convinced I had some elevation sickness) and we were pretty tired. Going down was not as hard cardio-wise, but my toes were jamming against my shoes for 2 1/2 hours......it turned more hot.....and I was nauseated. So the way down was definitely the hardest for me. We kept passing hikers who were just starting their hike at the hottest part of the day, which I TOTALLY didn't understand. We even had to share water with two hikers who didn't have any and would have probably died! (Side note: my nausea lasted for three days, reminded me of how horrible it is to be prego.......and my toenail is falling off. But still worth it!)

All in all, it was a great day. It was so fun to share this experience together with family. I was so impressed with my in-laws.....they may as well have been 40 years younger with how well they did!

We passed a few children on the hike....so I'd love to do it again someday, and maybe even with my kids! They would have to promise not to complain though, because I would have not been able to sympathize at all. In fact, we kept joking that if there were a helicopter available to take us back down for $100, it would have been totally worth it! Thanks guys, for the fun experience and memory!!!!!


(In the beginning, all fresh and ready to go
Maren, CJ, Tucker, Me, Jeannine and Neal) ...............When we started the hike, it was dark



only part way up, and look at the view! ........................the last rock-climbing steep part



taking a breather and then....................................at the TOP!!



I was trying to smile with the HUGE cliff next to me! And Tucker has NO FEAR!





This pic is the best....it is on the way down and we are not faking our faces (except CJ who said he'd hop back up the mountain if someone offered him $1,000....the rest of us said NO WAY!)