PROVO, Utah (ABC4) — On University Avenue in Provo, you’ll find Timpanogos Hiking Co., an inviting shop with a brick exterior and wooden door. Once you venture inside, you’ll find something that’s been quite a sensation among hikers and adventurers — colorful, hand-made embroidered badges, each representing one of Utah’s beautiful peaks.
These badges are a part of the store’s “Ten Peak Challenge”, meant to inspire people to explore the outdoors. With each peak in the challenge hikers complete, they can come to the store and pick up a badge to celebrate their accomplishment.
Store owner Joe Vogel said the badges represent hard work and resilience. He shared that he’s even heard many personal stories of what getting out on the hikes have meant to others, some saying they’re a healing factor for their hardships, such as mental health challenges, going through divorce, or overcoming cancer.
“We’ve had all kinds of personal stories where hiking means something to them and doing a really difficult thing like this, it just symbolizes something for them. That’s the part that’s meaningful for me because our whole bigger mission as a business is mental health,” Vogel said.
As Vogel spoke to ABC4.com, he wore a shirt with the store’s slogan “Escape the Noise”, a message that Vogel said is about the store’s dedication to promoting mental health, and taking a break from the commotion of life and technology to enjoy what Utah has to offer.
“That’s the whole point of the badge program is to get people outdoors, reconnecting with nature, doing something physical, and challenging, getting away from screens for a while. So it’s all just really rewarding to see how much people have loved it,” he said.
The badges were created two years ago, well, more like re-created. Vogel said he was researching everything to do with Mt. Timpanogos when starting his business. That’s when he came across a tradition dating back to the 1930s, where people who summited to the top of the mountain received a badge following this feat.
“Back then, it would take two or three days to get to the top. They didn’t have established trails or anything, so it was a big accomplishment. This tradition grew and grew, and it went on for four decades,” Vogel said.
This tradition was started by Eugene Roberts, who was BYU’s first director of physical education, affectionately called Eugene “Timp” Roberts because he became so associated with the mountain.
Roberts had traveled and scaled mountains across the globe, but believed there was something unique about the one from his hometown, and wanted to share that with others.
Roberts came up with the idea of an organized pilgrimage to the top of Mt. Timpanogos, inspired by similar mountain ascents he joined while serving his mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Switzerland.
As recreational hikes weren’t as common then, there were some hesitancies — but, in 1912, around twenty hikers joined Roberts on the first organized summit to the top of Mt. Timpanogos, which took place over the course of a few days.
Throughout the years, more people joined the experience and in 1930, Timp Badges were handed out to commemorate the hikers’ efforts.
The Timp Badge tradition was abandoned in 1971 at the same time as the Annual Timp Hike as it became harder to organize and was more taxing on the environment.
In 2023, Vogel revived the tradition, starting out with the Mt. Timp Hike, which he quickly ran out of badges for as more and more people set out for the challenge. Seeing the reception, Vogel added other peaks across the Wasatch Front, and said they hope to change them up every year.
Vogel said he enjoyed learning about and looking back at the older badges, even meeting with one man who had the entire collection from 1930 to 1971.
To get a badge, all you need to do is take a picture at the summit, tag Timpanogos Hiking Co. on social media, and pick up the badge at the store.
Here are the peaks in this year’s challenge:
- Mt. Timpanogos (Elevation 11,753)
- Mt. Nebo (Elevation 11,933)
- Lone Peak (Elevation 11,253)
- Mt. Olympus (Elevation 9,026)
- Pfeifferhorn (Elevation 11,331)
- Provo Peak (Elevation 11,068)
- Mt. Superior (Elevation 11,045)
- Spanish Fork Peak (Elevation 10,192)
- Ben Lomond (Elevation 9,716)
- Kings Peak (Elevation 13,528)
The store is also giving badges out to those who hike the “Y” trail.
What hiking means to Vogel
Vogel said his life took a detour a few years ago. He was a professor on the East Coast in Massachusetts for over a decade, and although that’s where he thought he would stay, life panned out differently.
Vogel said for years, he worked to become a professor, making many sacrifices along the way, but eventually went from Utah to Massachusetts where he received a tenure-track job as a professor. He lived and worked there for 15 years, writing books about music and pop culture, such as “This Thing Called Life” about Prince and “Stranger Things and the ’80s.”
Vogel said following a variety of personal challenges, he found himself back in Utah. His mom, who lives in Utah, had a very serious brain injury that was life-changing for his family. Shortly after that, his dad was rushed to the hospital where he nearly died from COVID-19.
“It was a big kind of awakening for me about thinking about what matters in life,” Vogel said.
When he was back in Utah to help his family, Vogel said he was reminded of Utah’s beauty, and found solace in hiking.
“As I was kind of going through a lot of hard things, to deal with that, to clear my head, was to go out hiking, and so it is very personal. The business started from that, and that’s why I wanted the ‘Escape the Noise’ message to be so central, ” he said. …A lot of people coming out of the pandemic were going through really hard times, dealing with difficult things, and getting outdoors is just so good for you…..I feel in a way, the mountain saved me and I feel it can do that for a lot of people.”
Vogel shared he went into education in hopes of making a difference, and loved it, but quickly found another calling in life when he created the business.
“I love being in a classroom. But now having done this complete career shift, I find this even more fulfilling, just being able to be creative, to be able to hear people’s stories, to be able to do things like this with the badges that are very community-based.”
Vogel has earned many of the badges himself, recently hiking Mt. Timp this summer. He shared that there are several people who are well on their way to collecting all ten badges this summer, which is exciting to see.
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