Mount Nebo Hike

There are two things that any one living in Utah Valley for an extended time ought to experience:

1. Dumpster diving for baked goods
2. Driving through the Wasatch mountains (Alpine or Nebo Loop) during the autumn color change

And if you have the opportunity, why not hike Mt. Nebo while you’re at it?  I was lucky enough this year to have a spare Saturday the beginning of October just as the colors were most vibrant in the Nebo Wilderness Area.

(Side note: Dumpster diving has been outlawed in Layton, Utah and other places around the country.  And I don't really recommend it for filling your pantry -- I just think it's funny that many college students find dumpster diving a good source of entertainment.  Then again, it is certainly sad to see all that food go to waste.  Check out this video.)



Mount Nebo stands at 11,928 feet above sea level (north peak) making it the tallest peak in the Wasatch mountain range, beating Timpanogos by 179 feet.  Height doesn’t always determine difficulty however.  In my opinion, Mount Nebo is much easier to summit than Timpanogos.  In fact, the hike is only 9 miles roundtrip and starts out at an elevation of 9270 feet which means you only have to climb 2658.

Details:

The trailhead for Nebo’s north peak starts at GPS coordinates 39°50'54.60"N, 111°43'20.00"W.  Be careful not to make the same mistake I did and start off on the wrong trail.  (The oiled parking lot has a trail that winds along Nebo’s east facing slopes, eventually ascending the southern end of Nebo and arriving at the south peak.)  The trail for the north peak starts from a dirt “parking lot” situated in the clearing 0.4 miles along the dirt road that joins the oiled parking lot on the northern end.  The destination marked “B” shown in the map below is what I am trying to describe.

View Larger Map

I realized after several miles of hiking that the trail wasn’t taking me where I wanted.  The correcting climb was very steep and on unstable rock (talus) but I found the correct trail on the top of the ridge just before nightfall.

I believe this plant is some wild variant of gooseberry.  I recognized the gooseberry leaf and fruit similarities so I felt comfortable eating a couple.  They tasted fine and gave me no adverse effects.  There were also several blueberry bushes along the trail (the trail leading to the south peak that is).

The correct trail to Nebo’s north peak quickly cuts west from the parking lot to join with the ridge system you see above.  It then follows the top of the ridge all the way to Nebo’s north peak (except for the first peak (above left) where the trail traverses lower on the west facing slope).

As you get closer to the north peak, the trail gets sparse and the rocks get loose and crumbly.  This area requires careful placement of feet as the slope is pretty steep on both sides of the ridge.

The scenery along the way was amazing!  Aspen trees ranged in color from green/yellow to bright orange and seemed almost fluorescent as the sunlight hit them.  Tall pine trees balanced the bright oranges with dark green.  Photographs can hardly describe what I saw.  Wildflowers were surprisingly unwithered and fresh, likely having been fed by snow banks all summer long.

I used an "oil painting" filter on this photo.  Click for enlarged view.

Purple aster (?) on eastern facing slopes of Nebo.

The next morning as I was descending Nebo’s slopes I tuned my portable radio to a live broadcast of General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  I listened as I strolled through stands of pine and aspen, the morning sun beaming through the trees, scattering all sorts of bright colors.  The setting was humbling and I was listening to powerful words from inspired leaders and living prophets of God.  I determined that I could do better in certain areas of my life and I was renewed with hope and filled with joy as I trudged back to my truck – my beautiful, old, blue, beat-up, pickup truck...  This is why I go hiking.