Hiking the Y

Dayton and Daphne love finding the Y on the mountain in Provo, and this trip they kept asking to climb up to it. So one morning we left the house early so we could hike before it was too hot.

Dayton and Daphne at the head of the Y trail

Map of the hike, showing switchbacks
Admiring the view on the way up;
You can see that we were in shade, but most of Provo was in sun

The kids barely rested at each switchback;
they mostly just wanted water from Nana's camelback,
and then they kept going

Dayton and Daphne counted the posts on the way up,
because we told them we would pass 10 posts to get to the Y;
Here Dayton's showing me Turn 5

Dayton and Grandpa enjoying the view at Turn 7

Daphne walked up to Turn 7,
but then I carried her the rest of the way

Dayton and Nana hiking the last bit with the Y in sight;
You can see the sun starting to creep up on us

Dayton was very excited to reach the Y;
He wanted to touch it to see if it was snow or not

Michelle, Daphne, and Dayton resting on the Y

Mommy and Daphne making Ys with our arms

Dayton and Nana- the view from the Y

Michelle, Daphne, and Grandpa on the way down;
Our hike back down was mostly in the sun

Dayton hiked the whole way up, and the whole way down
BY HIMSELF! What a stud.

The hike up took us 1 hour 10 minutes. We never stopped for more than 30 seconds, but we hiked very slowly. The hike down took us 50 minutes.

I was very proud of Dayton's endurance for this hike. I did not expect him to make it the whole way, but he did! And Daphne impressed me hiking 3/4 of the way herself. Hiking down was more difficult than up because the gravel trail was slippery. Dayton was not a fan of loosing his footing every now and then, so he held our hands on the way down. Sometimes he asked us to carry him, but we reminded him that he was a big boy and climbed up all by himself, so he kept going. Daphne walked 1/3 of the way down, but mostly wanted Mommy to carry her.