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Timpanogos Caves are a
National Park I have wanted to visit since I was a
little kid. And it has a trail to hike to get to it-
so I am there! A great drive to this canyon, you get
a back side view of Lone Peak, The Pfeifferhorn as
you make your way to the mouth of the canyon. There
is a fee station right at the mouth of the canyon,
it is $3.00 and it helps keep the canyon maintained.
Once you get to the Visitors Center, you can park
either in the main lot, or across the street in
provided parking spaces. There are restrooms, a gift
shop, and a small snack stand.
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To purchase the tour of the caves, go into
the main building, and ask the Rangers on duty where to purchase them.
The tour is $6.00. They will give you brief trail instructions, and
times for when you can tour the caves. Make sure you have water and
snacks for energy for the trail. It is a 20% grade all the way to the
cave entrance. Along the way there are interpretive trail signs about
the geology and wildlife that inhabits the hills and surrounding area.
There is one note of caution, red sections of the trail are rock slide
areas which are designated no stopping zones. And there is quite the
population of Rattlesnakes in the hills on the way up to the cave. Stay
on the trail, don't stop in the red zones, and you will be just fine.
Over 100 years ago, a Mormon settler Martin
Hansen was up the slopes cutting timber, when he noticed the tracks of a
mountain lion. He decided to follow the tracks up the slope to see where
they led to. He came upon the opening in the rock, which he figured,
that must be this cougars den. This was the opening to what would later
be named after him as Hansen's Cave. Hansen did not enter the cave that
day, but later returned with rope and candles and explored the cave.
Then in 1915 the second cave was discovered by 2 teenage boys James W.
Gough and Frank Johnson. It was the entrance to Timpanogos Cave. Then on
a hunting expedition, the grandsons of Martin Hansen, George and Wayne
Hansen were looking across the canyon at the two cave entrances, when
they noticed a 3rd whole in the mountain side. They returned with ropes,
candles and the now 74 year old Martin Hansen. In 1922, Timpanogos cave
was designated a National Monument. Today, it is still a spectacular
place to visit, bring your headlamp and a jacket too because the cave
holds a temperature during the summer of 45 degrees.
I started the tour in Hansens Cave, a large room with
stalactites and water carved outcrops in the rock, and everything had sort
of a brass color to it. On through a passage that wound its way down to
Hidden Lake, a cave pool on your way to the middle cave. As we pass the
growth in the rock there is a small opening, and a ladder from one of the
original explorers from the early days of this caves discovery. Then it
was on to the Great Heart of Timpanogos. A 5 ½ feet long, 3 feet wide
4000 pound stalactite which is composed of 3, possibly more tremendous
stalactites. As we traversed our way through the Timpanogos cave, it had
colors that were amazing. It was a great trip, nice to see the inside of a
mountain, because I am usually climbing the outside. Go see this!
 
Trail
Stats
American Fork Canyon- Visitor Center- 4.5 miles to
trailhead
Distance to Timpanogos Caves- 1 ½ miles to cave entrance
Elevation Gain- 1065 feet to 6730 feet
Hiking Time- 56 minutes
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