The mountain trail that beautiful summer day was crawling with hikers as it is every day during the tourist season.

Most were not serious hikers, but were tourists visiting Grand Teton National Park in western Wyoming. They had taken a shuttle boat across Jenny Lake to climb to Hidden Falls, described by one hiker "as the most beautiful waterfalls I have ever seen!"

Hidden Falls, which, according to park officials, is really a cascade rather than a waterfalls, is nestled at the base of the towering and majestic Teton Range where the highest mountain in the range — the jagged Grand Teton — juts into the sky nearly 14,000 feet.

A popular tourist attraction, the 80-foot cascade of water is viewed and photographed by thousands of visitors each year. It is an impressive sight.

The half-mile hike to Hidden Falls from the lake isn't a particularly difficult climb, and hikers of various ages and abilities can be seen on the trail.

For most, the trail ends at the cascade, but for others it continues on another half mile to Inspiration Point. The trail becomes considerably more rocky and rugged as it ascends sharply to the 7,200-foot level, switching back and forth across the face of the mountain. But at Inspiration Point, the hiker is rewarded with a magnificent view.

Below is a majestic panorama as the valley floor stretches out for miles, extending to the distant Wind River mountains to the east. Above, an equally awesome sight, the Teton skyline, with mountain peaks towering more than a mile straight up.

The vacation hiker — like the man wearing a pair of dress shoes, who was hugging the side of the cliff as he inched his way down over the jagged rocks from Inspiration Point — is ill-prepared to hike beyond the easy trails of the mountain.

Life is a lot like that.

Sometimes we are ill-prepared for the figurative mountains that we have to climb in mortality. No one would ever think of trying to scale the Grand Teton in a pair of dress shoes, but sometimes we try to scale our personal mountains without the cloak of righteousness.

There seems to be no end to the figurative mountains that we must climb. Mountains of adversity, mountains of tragedy, mountains of sorrow, mountains of heartache, mountains of inadequacy, mountains of pain, mountains of everyday living.

All of these things and many more, according to the word of the Lord to the Prophet Joseph Smith, will give us experience. (See D&C 122:7.) Certainly, as we seek to overcome the obstacles of our figurative mountains, we would not want to be unprepared or be without a support system.

"And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them.

". . . and they who keep their second estate shall have glory added upon their heads for ever and ever." (Abr. 3:25-26.)

What a tremendous promise!

Preparation, however, is prerequisite to receiving that promise — preparation that will ensure that we will be able to return safely to our Heavenly Father from our journey through mortality with all of its dangers.

"For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors." (Alma 34:32.)

And what do we have to do to be prepared?

The Lord put it simply:

"For if you keep my commandments you shall receive of his fulness, and be glorified in me as I am in the Father. . . ." (D&C 93:20.) If we keep the commandments, we are prepared for whatever may come and, in reality, have nothing to fear. (See D&C 38:30.)

But if we do slip and fall, there is the rescue of repentance.

Fortunately, in the Church we have a great support system to help us through life's journey — prophets and apostles, stake presidents and bishops, priesthood leaders and Relief Society presidents, home teachers and visiting teachers, and many others. The mountains we must climb are not so steep if there are others to help us — and we help them — through rough passages, and we rely on the Lord. We would be unwise, indeed, to try to cross the mountains alone.