Mt Nebo, elev 11928'

I wanted to hike Nebo, the tallest peak in the Wasatch Mountain range, before I moved to St. George. I left Provo and traveled to the town of Payson where I took exit 250 and then took a couple of turns to get to the Nebo Scenic Byway. The Scenic Byway was slow going for the first 8 or so miles – only able to go about 30 mph because of all the winding. But the last 16 or so miles picked up quite a bit and I saw a couple of deer and a lot of cattle that are allowed to roam free across the road.

I arrived at the monument trailhead and continued on the dirt road there for another .4 of a mile until I reached a cattle guard and a little parking area. Another car was in the parking lot so I knew I wouldn’t be alone on the hike. I took to the trail (trail 089) at 7:45.

The first mile or so of the hike winds along a barbed wire cattle fence. It seems that you are frequently losing elevation that you just worked so hard to gain! The trail finally turns north a bit, away from the cattle fence and toward a canopy of pine trees.

The trail meanders through a pretty pine forest all the while going towards a minor ridge heading in a westerly direction. The ridge leads to a drainage that you spend the next little while climbing. About half way up the drainage, the trail makes a sharp turn to the north, across the drainage, and up to another ridge.

Once on this minor ridge, the steep hiking begins. It is obvious from here where you are headed as you can see the main ridge in front and above you. There were still pockets of snow I had to make my way around occasionally veering off the trail a little ways to do so.

Once to the main ridge, the trail turns left (South) and is easy to follow. At one juncture along the way, a faint climbers trail breaks off to the left and continues on to North Peak. I originally had planned to go up and over this peak on my way to Nebo, but a bum knee and limited time helped me decide to skip North Peak. The trail takes you to the west side of North Peak, only 400 vertical feet from the summit (an infuriating close amount) before dropping about 200 feet to take you down to Wolf Pass, a beautiful meadow, at 10600 feet. When I was on the side of North Peak, I could see that the three hikers ahead of me had just reached point 11440.

From Wolf Pass, it’s a steep hike to reach unnamed point 11440. Once there, I saw the hikers climbing the final few feet to reach the summit. From point 11440, you’ll have to descend a bit to reach the final ascent of Nebo. For the most part, you stay just a few feet below the ridge proper on either side as it will speed things up.

The final part of the hike is again steep but primarily class 2 (as is most of the hike). The trail takes you along the north ridge until just about 100 feet below the summit, where you cross to the eastern side and climb the final 100 feet to reach the summit. I reached the summit at 10:30.

On the top, I signed the register which is contained in a black metal container, ate lunch, took pictures, and got a little nervous as I started seeing clouds start to form a short distance away. The forecast had called for afternoon thunderstorms and I didn’t want to get caught in one on the peak or ridge. The hikers I had seen before had continued on to complete the Nebo Traverse and probably hike out via the Andrews Ridge trail (which would require a car shuttle).

I spent 20 minutes on the summit before starting my descent. I hurried down, trying to beat the threatening clouds. I arrived back at my car at 1:05, making my total time 5 hours and 20 minutes to cover 9.07 miles. A challenging and pretty hike!