If the goats can do it...

Jay had THE line of our excursion. "If the goats can do it, so can we." Little did he know that he would soon be eating those words.

I don't have much time...because Laurel and I are playing together this weekend...but I got my pictures developed and had to share one quick story.

Here's a picture of Billy:

Here's a picture of Billy and his friends scaling the cliffs of Mt. Timpanogos:

You'll need to look closely for the white dots near the center of the picture. My courageous friend Jay (I can say that because he's in the Air Force and has done things most mothers never want to hear about) wisely stated that if goats can do it, so can we.

After we set up camp near Emerald Lake, Brent, Jay, and I set out for a sunset view atop Timp. Once you get above the tree line, there is nothing but rocks, some snow patches, and more rocks. And by the way, the rocks are loose. So the three of us, expert hikers that we are, saw a path in the distance and determined that we would be able to meet up with it eventually. So we kept our eyes on the path ahead and began hiking upwards. Sometime between "here and there," it became obvious that we were not on a trail. We questioned if it was even a trail used by goats.

I turned around to get back to the original trail while my brave friends continued their journey. I heard a rock slide while I was hiking back. And about the time I got back on the official trail, I saw this:

This isn't the kind of sight you want to see when scaling the face of a mountain. Brent said he saw his life flash before his eyes a few times. Jay followed behind Brent, but when he took his first steps, a few large rocks went tumbling towards Brent...so Jay decided it would be best to wait for Brent to finish his descent.

Once Brent slid to the official trail, I saw him running towards me...moving out of the way of a rock avalanche created by Jay. Jay found a large rock to rest on while he determined the best strategy for his final descent.

I think Jay has determined to let goats do what goats do...and we humans will stick to the marked trail. It was great fun! We made it to the saddle of Timp in time to enjoy the sun setting over Utah valley.

I'll share more pictures later! I had a blast with Brent and Jay. They are two of my closest friends. We've decided to do this again in 12 years...with Billy.