Hiking Mt. Nebo

Today was an awesome day. Laura and I started a little bit late, partly because I woke up late and wasn't even ready until 8:15, and partly because when I went to go start the car the battery was dead. This is the 3rd time this month--each time its been after Sunday, when I don't use the car much so I guess the battery gets drained. Anyways, I'll have to figure it out tomorrow. I didn't want it to die on me down in the middle of nowhere, So I called Laura and asked her to drive. She arrived at about 8:45, and after a quick stop to get water (we originally only had a bottle a piece), we hit the road.

I had been up pretty late last night researching Mt. Nebo, and first of all I was shocked by how long of a hike it was--a minimum of 10 miles, and many people recommended taking 2 days (I wonder if Laura knew it'd be so long). There were also several different versions of the hike, and I chose the route to the north summit. Starting at the Nebo Bench Trail. This was the shortest hike that had clearly marked trails. Upon reflection, I sure wish I hadn't left my PocketPC/GPS unit in Salt Lake on Saturday, because it would have been a lot nicer to just blaze our own trail--the Bench trail wound around and around forever.

We took I-15 down to Nephi, and then went up and around to the Nebo Scenic loop, where after about 5 or 6 miles, we found the trail head. By the time we got there, it was almost 10 AM. So we were definitely starting late. We also discovered I had been a little misled about the length of the hike. It was 11 miles, one way. As opposed to the two ways I had been thinking. So we were pretty much resigned from the beginning to falling short of the summit.

The first mile or two were fairly easy, although I did get slightly winded on our first uphill climb, but that stopped once I broke a sweat and got my heart rate up. We had cloud cover all morning, and we were a little concerned about a storm, but the sun came out around noon. Even then it was the perfect temperature. I wore shorts the whole time, and I took off my sweatshirt about the time the sun came out.

The trail and scenery was beautiful, alternating between meadow, rocky slope, and woods. After 2 or 3 miles, you could tell that it wasn't an extraordinarily well-traveled trail, but there were lots of markers to help out. I really wish I had brought my camera.

Laura brought some trail mix, so that gave us energy until about 2:00. About that time, we could see the trail starting to go downhill for a while, and we just looked at our watches and realized we'd probably have to go right back up it in less than half an hour, so we stopped, climbed up a nearby hill and sat down for lunch--PJ&B sandwiches. It's been forever since I had one. We had a great view, but the rocks we sat on weren't the most comfortable.

So after a brief bathroom break, we headed on down. This seemed to take forever, I guess because I had lost track of just how far we had come (I'm guessing we were 8 miles up). We passed the time by talking and singing. About a mile away from the end, we met our first and only hikers of the day--a dad with three small children. I want to do that with my children some day. I don't have enough memories of dad doing that with us.

Finally, exhausted and out of water, we returned to our car. After giving a scouting report to a couple of archers (no deer to be seen anywhere on the trail), we drove back home, this time going up north on the scenic loop trail.

We stopped at Subway to get some fruit drinks and water. These hit the spot, though didn't fix our hunger. But we had to hurry home to FHE. So she dropped me off at my place, which by that time was already crowded with people for BBQ. FHE went great. Tons of people came over, and all of the house was full of people until very late. I set up volleyball outside, which got pretty competitive, but I was too exhausted to play, and plus I needed a shower. Natalie came by from nowhere with her fiancée (we were all shocked--hadn't seen her all summer). Mark got introduced to all the new people. It's nice to have him back to help entertain with parties. Things should be even more livelier now.

Anyways, what a great Labor Day. But my body is very burnt and tired. I'm going to enjoy sleeping tonight.

Posted September 01, 2003 (10:55 PM) | Comments (1)