40th Birthday Adventure Day 5: Timpanogos Cave National Monument

A chilly mountain morning greeted me long before sunrise… happy birthday to me! ‘Twas the final day of the adventure to send out my 30th/start my 40th decade in style, and we had a 7am lantern tour of Timpanogos Cave to catch (hence the dark-o-clock alarm).

Established in 1922, Timpanogos Cave National Monument is tucked in the American Fork Canyon and protects a system of three caves within Mount Timpanogos. The caves are only accessible on a guided tour – of which there are three to choose from: standard cave tour, Centennial Lantern tour, and introduction to caving. We originally had tickets for a standard tour, but cancelled them in favor of a 7am Centennial Lantern Tour, which means no artificial lighting is used and all participants carry a battery operated lantern. This hour-long tour was designed to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the national monument founding in 2022, and was carried over into 2023.

At Timpanogos Cave you have to work for your tour, hiking 1.5 miles uphill (on a very nice, wide paved path, for what its worth) and gaining 1,100 feet. Therefore, the tour time is the time in which you check in and begin the hike up, and the actual cave tour part starts ninety minutes later. Because of white nose syndrome precautions and regulations, Eric opted to do the hike in flip-flops, much to a lot of people amusements (he hikes in flip-flops all the time!) since his hiking boots had just been in Lehman Caves. I brought enough shoes that I that I wear a pair that hadn’t been in a cave (but made me realize I should start a spreadsheet of what has been in what cave…). I was a bit grumbly about sitting around on top being cold as I knew it wouldn’t take us ninety minutes to make the climb, so we tried to take the hike up pretty slowly, stopping to read the interpretive signs and take photos.

The elevation gain comes quickly, and there are several checkpoints encouraging visitors to check their heart rates.

I was excited to be reveling in fall colors!

Here is where the Rocky Mountains meet the Great Basin, both rather geologically young. The Wasatch Mountains, actually, are the western edge of the Rocky Mountains in Utah. American Fork Canyon puts geology on full display, and the path up has great signage every time you change formations.

Our early morning was made better by seeing a pretty sunrise!

One of the world’s most scenic vault toilets I think!

Trying to capture the steepness of the trail. The centerline is color coded, indicating areas of rockfall and where one should not stop.

Gawky kids, thoughtless women, hardboiled men… oh my!

Less than an hour after started, we reached the cave entrance and I piled on layers for what ended up not being too bad of a wait for the rest of the tour participants to arrive (plus I’ll admit, there was a touch of cell service up there, so I took to answering some early HBD texts). Ranger Sabrina arrived and started gathering the battery-powered lanterns that we would use on the tour. After going over the rules (don’t touch the cave!) we entered an airlock and then popped into the first of the three caves, Hansen Cave.

Ranger Sabrina going over the rules and giving some background on the cave

Yep, caves are just weird! An example of some flowstone.

Tunnels were created between the three caves, and all have their own airlock doors to maintain natural airflow state of the respective caves. We proceeded towards Middle Cave. One thing I noticed about these caves is they were a lot more moist than Lehman Caves that I visited a few days prior, and there were plenty of cave kisses to be had! (Cave kisses are when water drips from a stalactite.) The Big Room is a great feature of Middle Cave, which is a really large room. However, with our small lanterns, I opted not to try to take any photos as it really did not do the room justice.

Helictites and what almost appears to be coral!

The lack of big spotlights and lots of artificial lighting on this tour meant this cave felt more “real” to me than Lehman Caves. Also, side note… but on this trip both rangers we had for tours were quite short. Coincidence or ? At 5’10”, I had to do a lot of crouching and maneuvering when Ranger Sabrina could just walk right on through.

The Heart of Timpanogos, arguably the most famous formation

Down another tunnel, we reached Timpanogos Cave. Here is where my favorite part of the tour happened, the Chimes Chamber. This is also when I switched my lantern from the yellowish candle mode to the bright, white LED mode and my photos dramatically improved! In the Chimes Chamber there are hundreds of helictites, including some with unique colors, such as purple which is from manganese. Timpanogos Cave actually has one of the highest concentrations of helictites in the world!

And suddenly… my photos got a lot better! Greens, oranges, and purples all came out!

Helictites are just… gravity defying! The jury is still out on just exactly how they form, but capillary action seems to be the strongest theory.

An example of the purple coloring from manganese. Ranger Sabrina says the manganese is actually introduced into the cave by the electrical wiring system, and there is a bacteria that synthesizes it, leaving the purple color. If anybody stumbles upon this blog and knows more about this, please let me know in the comments, as I love bacteria and I love the color purple and just overall would love to learn more!

The whiter light on my lantern helped show the different colorations better

After the Chimes Chamber we continued on the narrow passage through Timpanogos Cave as Ranger Sabrina explained the fault systems that contributed to the formation of the caves. This got a few on the tour worried about earthquakes, but Ranger Sabrina did a great job at explaining that these were not earthquake-prone faults we were standing in the middle of, and that we were quite safe.

Drapery. In the background is a stalagmite (with accompanying stalactite blocked by the drapery) that a ranger studied over the course of his multi-decade career at the national monument… the gap between the two negligibly closed during that time. Geology moves slow…

One last look at some formations in Timpanogos Cave

Much too quickly, it was all over and we emerged into the daylight. We signed the guestbook and thanked Ranger Sabrina before beginning the quick descent down the trail. I donned my birthday tiara for an entrance sign photo to commemorate the day (and my 74th National Park Service unit), and then we headed into the visitor center for souvenirs and to submit our Junior Ranger books. The volunteer and rangers got the whole crowd in the visitor center to applaud once we were sworn in, which I am sure made me turn red (however, there were adults on my cave tour much older than me that were excitingly talking about their Junior Ranger books, so I am not alone!).

View of the path to the entrance from the exit area

Obligatory trailhead sign after the fact since it was dark when we had started.

Being a bit extra with my tiara for my entrance sign photo

The morning’s activity wrapped up, it was also time to wrap up the adventure. We grabbed lunch at In N Out Burger, where I ate my first batch of animal style fries. Eric had a twelve hour drive to tackle to get back home to Washington, so I was dropped off the the airport fairly early for my late afternoon flight. Thankfully the Salt Lake City airport is freshly renovated and was very lovely to spend time in. Here’s to seeing all the new adventures to come in future years!