On July 23rd, 2008 my daughter Stacey called and asked if I would like to
hike Mt. Nebo with
she and her husband Blair the next day. I had considered it before, and decided
this
was as good a time as any, so I agreed. Little did I know what I was in for.
We
had been told the hike to the top only takes about an hour and isn't very
hard.
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There are two main trails that lead to the top of Mt. Nebo. You may either
start
in Nephi Canyon and hike north from there to the top, or you can start at
a
location called the monument on the Nebo Loop road and already have
a head start on the climb both in distance and altitude. We chose the
monument trail. (This picture was taken looking southwest
at Mt. Nebo and the task which loomed before us.)
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Along the way there were many sites to see and pleasant distractions
such as gorgeous flowers...
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including columbines.
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It's a fairly well groomed trail and easily followed with probably
about 2/3 of the entire hike being a moderate grade.
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Are we there yet?
Because we had never made this hike before we kept wondering what to expect.
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We rested often to drink water and enjoy the incredible beauty.
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For guys like me who enjoy collecting rocks it was
hard to decide which fossils to leave.
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WOW! It seems to be getting harder.
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Hurray! We're finally at the top of the world.
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We now took a lunch break and signed the book in the metal box at the top.
The top is at 39°49.326' N. 111°45.591' W.
elevation 11,941 feet.
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What an incredible view it is from the top. Looking west you can see Mona,
Mona Reservoir, and even the Little Sahara sand dunes in the distance.
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And at last came the hike back down. One pleasant diversion along the return
path
was a snow drift which we had noticed, but basically ignored, on the way up.
However, on the way down we took a break, threw snowballs, and put snow
under our hats. This hike took us about 8 hours from Payson and back home
again and was much harder than anticipated, but we look back on it as a
character building, enjoyable experience.
Pictures taken 7/24/08
Page created 11/20/08