Hiking the Y

I started up my last class this weekend. To the kids, this meant that on Saturday I would get to rip off a chain that is the countdown until I finish my MBA. Every link I pull off on Saturday afternoon after class represents one more weekend down. The link I tear off has an activity written on it along with a countdown. This one said "Hiking the Y" and "4 more Weekends!" I was excited about the "four more weekends" and the kids were excited about the hiking.

Amber had prepared some gear, along with borrowing a hiking backpack baby carrier. I grabbed a GPS and some hiking shoes and away we went. Jace did very well nestled in the backpack carried which I wore during the hike.



We had a great time starting up the mountain. During the hike we probably passed some 50 other people making the ascent or just coming down from the hike. We passed two sets of people that we knew from our neighborhood that had moved out in previous years. One of them was a webelos leader in his new ward and he had a handful of cub scouts with him. The other was a family that moved out three or four years ago. We were lucky to meet up with them because they were moving to Denver in a week to start a new job. It is pretty fun to see who you can meet when you hike the Y!


On one of the 14 marker posts up the mountain, we stopped and grabbed a photo of our family on the trail. The view of Provo was already starting to look pretty impressive. The weather was perfect for a hike and the kids were energetic!



As we neared the trail split where you decide if you hike will end at the bottom of the Y or at the top of the Y, we asked the kids which end they wanted to take. They all were enthusiastic about going to the top of the Y, so we altered course and headed up the higher trail.

Aliece was full of energy and ran on up ahead of all of us. She was the first one to make it to the top. She was pretty proud that she was the first one.



Once at the top we had a brief snack, chatted, and then called Jen to sing happy birthday and let her know where we were at (Jen has made this hike with us several times when she lived in Provo). We also had a girl take a picture of our family sitting at the top.

I had my GPS with me and had tracked the hike. Here are the stats for going up to the Y: We had climbed 1,100 feet in just over one hour of our adventure. Of that hour, we were moving 40 minutes of the time and stopped for pictures and breaks for 20 minutes. Our moving average was 1.7 miles per hour. Our walking distance was nearly exactly a mile.

On our way down, we stopped at a geocache that was located near the top of the Y. We let the kids take a look at it, but we didn't have anything to trade, so we just put it back. As we neared the trail split where we had originally turned to go to the upper part of the Y, Aliece pleaded that we take the other trail and visit the bottom of the Y. After much persuasion, we all agreed and made that short trek.

After visiting the bottom of the Y, we headed back down to the van. On our way down, we stopped and took a picture for a family that had eight children. Their oldest was 11 years old. They had a lot of very young kids. It was pretty cool to see a family that size doing the activity together. They explained to us that they made it a ritual every year.

Near the end of our trip, I continued to carry Jace in the back carrier. He had been very quiet and content the entire time. As we were walking Amber stopped and asked the kids to be quiet to see if they heard something. The mountain was quiet as we all listened. While we were listening I heard a faint hiss. I thought that was what Amber was pointing our attention to. I listened again and the hiss was a little louder. Amber asked, "What is that?" Again, I thought she was talking about the hissing sound. I listened more intently wondering if it were a snake, or an upset badger. All of the sudden the hiss was even louder, but this time it seemed to be right behind me. Suprised, I yelled and started running (I was behind everyone) and yelling "let's go!" Amber and the kids just looked at me with confusion. I stopped and said, "didn't you hear the hissing?" They had no clue what I was talking about. I asked Amber what she was listening to and she said, "it is the Carrillon Bells at BYU - they are playing a song". Then I realized what I had heard, and why no one else had heard it. Jace, who was riding on my back had has head propped in a position where his breathing was up against his blanket right behind my neck. The hissing sound I heard was Jace breathing with a snotty nose through his blanket. We all had a good laugh about it.