Julie & Brady: Mt. Olympus/Mt. Timpanogos

When I was 18 weeks pregnant, we decided to climb Mt. Olympus. We heard that it was a difficult hike and we were kind of nervous about it because we hyped it up a ton. I'm really glad we did, because it was as hard as people told us it was. There weren't any surprises. We started at 8 am, so most of the way up was in the shade which we were grateful for. The first little bit was pretty steep but it leveled out for about a mile and I remember telling Brady that the hike wasn't that bad and that people were just being dramatic... but then we hit the steep part. The steep part that lasted oh, about 2 miles. We gained 4,200 feet in 3.5 miles. Straight uphill for 2 miles. I wanted to die. There were moments that I had to stop and breathe every 5 feet or so. I felt bad for myself because I was 18 weeks pregnant, but Brady had to carry Sadie the whole way! Almost everyone we saw on the trail commented on how awesome Brady was for carrying Sadie. I wanted to be like, "Hey! I'm carrying a little baby too ya know!" :) As we approached the summit, we realized we'd have to rock scramble a little bit and there were parts where I felt like a rock climber. I actually had a moment of anxiety and major fear of heights as I was climbing up a particular rock face. I looked below me and realized how steep of a drop there was and I got really scared for myself but mainly for Sadie. I was really worried about Brady climbing with her and she was really nervous too. She kept crying when Brady would jump. We think she's a little afraid of heights. But, we conquered that beast of a mountain and it felt good to be at the top! The way down was pretty difficult too. Our knees were aching. Brady's legs were shaking with every step he took. Needless to say, we were both really sore that day and the next! We were so excited to be back to our car when we finished. :)

It's as steep as it looks. Maybe steeper! Scary sauce...

Two weeks later, we hiked Mt. Timpanogos. Brady grew up with this mountain in his backyard basically so it's kind of his favorite :)

I've been wanting to hike it for a long time and I wanted to make it happen this summer before I got too huge pregnant-wise. Helen and Stu were kind enough to watch Sadie for us as we hiked since it's a 14 mile hike and took us a good part of the day. We started at 5:30 am and saw the sunrise as we hiked up. I was amazed at how many hikers we saw! It's a very popular hike. Brady's sister, Heather, came with us. At one point, we were talking about labor for some reason and a male hiker in front of us asked if we were talking about labor to help us realize that hiking pain was nothing in comparison to the pain of labor. We agreed with him! Haha :)

There were so many beautiful views. I loved seeing all the mountains on one side and then seeing Utah Valley on the other. We even saw a herd of mountain goats! I think that was my favorite part. They were right next to the trail with little babies. So cute! I'm glad they were nice because I've heard they can be vicious. There was one part near the summit that was pretty steep and rocky, so on the way down we were slipping and sliding from the small rocks. Brady got down really fast because he's fearless and not pregnant and decided to come back to help me as I was still descending. The moment that he reached his hand out to take mine, I fell hard on my butt. I got a pretty good bruise from the fall. Thanks a lot for the help, Brady! ;) jkjk, he was just trying to be nice :)

Brady and Heather, at one point, saw where our car was parked and said that we just had about an hour left of hiking... I told them they were crazy and said it'd be at least another 2.5 hours. Of course, I was right. They had no sense of time and mileage I guess ;)

My feet really started to ache the last couple miles, so I would jog for awhile to get back sooner. I really love hiking and it's one of my favorite things, but sometimes it hurts and sometimes I want it to be over with! This was definitely one of those times :)

I think, though, that this hike is my favorite so far in Utah. I loved the green and the views and the mountain goats :)