Third Time's the Charm?

Yesterday, I officially commited to my sister-in-law that I would hike Mt. Timpanogos with her on 4th of July weekend. This will be the 3rd attempt for us. I say "attempt" because we have never successfully made it to the top. Click here to see some spectacular photos of this mountain and hike.

I dug through my digital photo files and then through my scrapbooks to find out exactly how long it has been since I've hiked this trail. So long that I have no digital photos of this mountain. That's reason enough right there to try again!

Our first attempt was in 1995. We made it to the lake and bad weather turned us around. It wasn't very difficult to find an excuse to quit. We were ill prepared for this hike. We didn't bring enough water and would have had to turn around hours before because we ran out of water. If it wasn't for a very nice family that shared their water pump with us, we would have been in big trouble. By the time we made it to the lake, it was threatening rain and thunder/lightning. We turned around, headed down and walked the last mile or two in the rain. I remember crawling back into my in-laws beater van and feeling like a drowned rat.

Our second attempt was in 2002. Eric's youngest sister had just graduated and we were in town for a family reunion, so the three of us went up the mountain. We picked a weekday, which we thought would make for better hiking/parking conditions, but the problem was that when we finally reached the lake, there was NO ONE around. And we didn't know which way to go to continue on up to the summit. It was freezing cold and windy, so we turned around and headed back down. We didn't want to get lost on the mountain and have to spend the night up there! On the way down, I had horrific knee pain (what I now know to be ITBS) and limped and wimpered all six miles down the mountain. It was really discouraging to be defeated by the mountain again.

Until I recently discovered the source and cure for my knee problems, I'd always assumed that attempting Timp again wouldn't ever be a possibility. I still have knee flare-ups, but now I know so much more about preparing for this hike. I know to bring water, a water/filter pump and a jacket for the top (maybe even gloves and a beanie now that I'm acclimated to AZ heat). I know that I'm going to have to do yoga like crazy over the next two months and squats too, so I can prep my thighs for the trip down the hill. I'm going to start walking on the escalator machine at the gym to prepare for the hike up the mountain.

Any of you Timp experts out there have more advice? It's do or die this time... and I don't really want to die... if you know what I mean!