After a few hundred feet, at 6:45am, Salt Lake city awakens.
Not yet at 4,100 feet, Salt Lake city is awake but now we're ready to rest. Once again, we're out of sync.
Jenni chose the hike for early Sunday. One wonders, while on the trail, whether she was pleased with the selection. It was both strenuous and in places, a difficult experience. We suppose with a name Olympus, there is an expectation of excellence. This mountain climb is no exception to the premise. A couple of years ago, we hiked up the original Mount Olympus in Greece, big surprise as to location, and experienced an appropriate challenge. As we sat and ate a late breakfast after negotiating the cliffs on the way back, the dangerous section—we like to get over those types of hurdles before eating—a couple engaged us in conversation. One of the things we learned from the woman is that she has two levels of enjoyment which she calls Type A and B. The former level is an instant, continuous pleasure, while Type B is the satisfaction that comes after completing the hike. Jenni piped up that she was looking forward to Type B enjoyment a few hours later. It probably is a quicker way to answer the opening question.
The distance of the trail is not long, 7.5 miles, but the elevation gain is 4,100 feet. That type of gain is large and within the length of the hike, very large. We have a book of hiking within Utah and strange as it may seem, Olympus is not listed. What’s even stranger is that relative to its danger and difficulty, the track was busy. We had the dubious distinction of being the oldest couple on the trail. I know I felt it because at times I needed to seek excuses for feeling strained. I settled on a few reasons: A low level virus, this has become a favorite excuse; too little sleep the night before, summer heat, muscles too tired after the climb to negotiate rock climbing, too little protein, too much starch and a few more. Jen told me later that a couple of young women she crossed paths with gave her the “Atta-girl” which is the equivalent of “Go Granny’. We remember the early years of Hike-about when we were older than most of the young hikers’ parents. Today, we are close to their grandparents’ ages. And therein lies the sad answer to our fitness. We are two, too old has-beens.
The hike got me thinking of Angels Landing, the great experience of Zion National Park. As a comparison, we’ve tabulated the differences, briefly.
Angel’s is 5 miles return, Olympus 7.5 miles.
Elevation gain is 1,500 feet versus 4,100 feet.
Angel’s has chains as support in most of the hazardous positions; Olympus has none.
Crowded versus relatively quiet.
2-3 hours on Angels versus 5-7 on Olympus.
These are a few differences which clearly define their difficulty. Nevertheless, both are fantastic experiences. Is it any surprise that both are in the state of Utah? As an aside, we published a novel a few years back which was based in Utah and are pleased to announce a forthcoming publication (novel) which is based partly in guess where?
In the early going, Olympus comes into view; 2.5 hours to go. The wall on the right, one has to climb it to reach the peak. That's where the real danger exists.
Salt Lake City with the lake in the background from peak of Mount Olympus, 4,100 feet above the trailhead.
Jenni preparing to 'climb the wall', one of many.
A view: looking down one of the gulleys. The proverbial 'foot in the door'.
This is the final section, (of a number of segments), to climb to reach Olympus Peak. Looks like he's in a quandary. To quit or not to quit. We decided to quit twice but fortunately reversed those decisions both times.
Jen returns cautiously.
Another perspective of the city from the top.
On the way down, pretty difficult section.
Some of the pretty and rugged views.
Off the tricky section, now for the view of Twin Peaks.
Cheers,
Jenni and Jeffrey
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