Mount Olympus on Halloween. How scary...

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Picture from the top of Mt. Olympus. 8 miles. 4,192 feet of elevation gain. Date hiked: Oct. 31, 2020

Mount Olympus is an easily seen mountain peak on the Wasatch Front. I have no idea why I have lived in Utah so long an never hiked it. It was Letizia's first hike when she moved here. But, yesterday was my first adventure with Mount Olympus. I give it four out of five mountains. The trail was super rocky, which I did not love. And there were so many people on the trail, which I did not love. But, overall, it was a good end of year hike as my lungs knew they were alive, it was a new hike to me, and the view was pretty spectacular. 

Even though we hiked this on Halloween, there wasn't anything too scary about this hike. There wasn't a time where I was looking over edges with steep drop offs. The foliage, for the most part, however, was dead so that was very Halloween like. But, it was Oct. 31st, so dead is to be expected. This trail was fairly steep. It started out less steep than I imagined, which was good. But, it did end quite steep, as I didn't quite imagine. Per mile, on average, this trail went up 1,000 ft. That is a little more than I am used to, and my lungs informed me of the fact repeatedly. 

So, here's how it went. Miles 1-2 feel pretty good. Not too steep. Doable. Mile 3. Total slog. And it's rocky. But, you are climbing a mountain to get to a peak. So, up is how you get there. Last climb, somewhere in the last mile. Not too bad. It isn't a slog, but I did find myself going up some interesting rocks. Coming down this part, my legs felt more like jello than legs, which was concerning. I digress. After much climbing, the top was in view! Yay! As usual, Leti just motored right up the thing. She had to stop and wait for me several times. Bless her. She was not phased. I was pondering life support. 

Here's Leti at the top. She thought the hike was medium. Clearly. That smile says so. 

Leti at the top, but a different angle. In the back you can see the twin peaks, another potential hiking destination. 
Me looking legit. I think it's the poles attached to my backpack. I also like the light streaming in the picture. It looks revelatory. 

Here is Leti on the way down. A little scramble there. It was invigorating. 

Looking legit with my poles here. Feeling much less legit with my jello legs. 

After this, we headed down the sloggy section of the trail again. My lungs felt better here. My knees did not particularly care for the activity. In hiking, I rarely find that all of my body parts are pleased with the activity at the same time, as was the case here. But, we continued on. Finally, we were within two miles of the trailhead and everything seemed to be much better. It wasn't as rocky or steep. And by the end, my legs were back to legs, instead of jello forms. Very exciting. It was another hiking adventure in the books! 

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