The mountain was angry that day my friend...

Several months ago I did one of the best/funniest/stupidest things I've ever done. It ranks right up there with the time I decided to flip off a guy on the freeway. I went hiking/on a death march with Rachel Clark and one of her friends, Jordan Rasband.We were going to hike Timpanogus, not to the caves, to the actual mountain peak. I expected it to be about a five hour hike, nothing too bad. I'm in good shape right? I've heard stories of people doing it in the night, so I figured it wasn't going to be that bad…If I only knew. We began our journey through hell at seven in the morning. After about two hours, I get up the nerve to ask how much farther. The response would b

urn in my ears, "We're about an 8th of the way." I almost crapped my pants, but alas, I kept hiking. By about 10:30 we reached "Emerald Lake", which is actually only a glorified pond.

I assumed we were almost to the top…wrong. We then proceeded to hike through what we dubbed the "Valley of Rocks.” Imagine walking for about an hour through a solid field of rocks: MASSIVE rocks, and little tiny ones. As if we weren’t having enough of an adventure already, I kid you not, we came across mountain goats! Are you kidding me?! We had to stop for a little bit to let them cross the trail so we wouldn't die by pronging. The goats then walked across the cliffs above us, causing rocks to fall below...near the trail...near my head (which I use more often than you'd think). After we survived several close encounters, we made it to the "saddle". It is basically where two mountains come together and it looks like a saddle. It was awesome! We could see all of Utah County on one side and the Heber Valley on the other. The moment was soon seriously weakened by strong and cold winds. I was not prepared for this. I was wearing shorts and a T-shirt. I soon began to freeze. (This is a story for another time, but when I get cold, my muscles be gin to shake and quiver. It's quite a sight) Here I am 12,000 feet up and the wind is blowing like a mad woman... Was our adventure over? Nay, I say, it had only just began. We then had to hike along cliffs in order to reach the true summit. We finally reach the true summit. We write our name in the little shack, spit some sunflower seeds and res. Then we get this crazy/awesome/stupid idea to slide down the glacier. We've asked around and no one dares to do it, apparently they knew much more than us. We finally reach the glacier. The task was daunting, but we’re invisible teenagers right? I decided to wear my plastic garbage bag like a diaper, poking two leg holes. I then decide to see what happens...bad idea...I begin sliding down this ice slide of a glacier and I can't stop. I'm seriously flying, I would estimate I was going about 25-30 miles an hour. There are huge rocks that I'm trying to avoid (I discovered I am a poor ‘avoider’) I'm catching some sick air. I'm trying desperately to stop, but to no avail. I'm digging my feet in, trying to grab anything with my hands...not a chance.

I've heard people mention that their lives flashed before their eyes, now I believe it happens. After a very terrifying minute of terror, I finally got myself stopped. Disaster avoided right? Oh no… I was only roughly half way down this sucker. (It is a REALLY big glacier...imagine the steepest, longest sledding hill...filled with rocks...big ones.) I'm lying on my back wondering if I'm dead. I finally came to my senses and sat up. Rachel and Jordan were screaming down at him, I managed to give the “I’m alive” signal. After that little episode, we decided that the whole garbage bag idea was a poor one. We then basically crawled down the mountain on our hands and knees, in shorts, without gloves. We literally could not feel out hands, and for several days afterwards it felt like needles every time we touched anything. We finally made it off the glacier and then the reality hit us. We still had to hike for another 4 hours to get down. We reached the cars at about 6:00, we hiked for roughly 11 hours.

All in all, even though we almost died (and several times wished I had) the hike was a blast and worth it. Although, I’m not sure I’ll be doing it again anytime soon. I still have the scars to remind me, until they fade, I think I’ll just watch Man vs. Wild instead of living it.