Provo Peak, UT -- A Short Steep Hike with Impressive Summit Views.

Overview

Provo Peak is Utah's 24th highest peak at 11,068 ft, and the 28th most prominent at 3,428 ft. The peak is located in the central Wasatch Front; behind Provo City and is a dog friendly trail.

This is a short, steep, trial. It is not for first time peak baggers or small children. The trail is easy to follow as it winds it's way up the steep ridge to the summit. Most folks would find trekking poles useful on this hike. I found them invaluable while hiking down.

Trailhead at 8,343 ft (2,543 m)	Summit at 11,068 ft (3.374 m)
Total elevation gain of 2,750 ft (838 m)	Roundtrip of 2.9 mi (4.7km)
Time from 3 to 6 hours	Mix of class1 trail and class 2 (YDS)

The trail classification system used in this blog is the YDS, Yosemite Decimal System

https://www.devilslakeclimbingguides.com/blog/understanding-climbing-ratings

We summited around noon on Saturday, September, 10, 2022. Our round trip hike took almost five hours, including a leisurely lunch on the summit. This was a fairly slow pace, made obvious, since we were passed by several other hikers on our way up.

From the summit you can see Cascade Peak five miles to the NNW and Mount Timpanogos sits six miles behind Cascade Peak. Thirty miles to the SSW is Mount Nebo, the highest peak on the Wasatch Front. Closer are several glacial cirques adjacent to Provo Peak.

Directions

There are two trails to the peak, these directions take you to the trailhead of the shorter hike.

From the mouth of Provo Canyon drive up the canyon heading easterly for 1.8 miles. Turn right at Squaw Peak Rd. and drive 13.4 miles to the trailhead. The drive takes about an hour from the Squaw Peak turnoff.

The Squaw Peak Rd. starts out as a paved road, but soon turns into a well maintained dirt road. After 11.4 miles you will reach the turnoff for the Rock Canyon campground turnoff. At this point there is a road sign warns that a high clearance AWD vehicle is required to proceed up the Squaw Peak Rd. We found the road to be in good shape over this last 3.8 miles to the trailhead. This section is rough in places and requires some slow driving, but we had no clearance issues in our Outback.

Trail Info

There are two trailheads to the peak, the longer route is the Slide Canyon Trail at 11.4 miles with a cumulative elevation gain of 6,700 feet.

https://www.stavislost.com/hikes/trail/provo-peak-via-slide-canyon-trail

The shorter route, our choice, is just under 3 miles roundtrip and is accessed by the Squaw Peak Rd. This is a tough but short hike; you gain 2,700 feet in only 1.46 miles.

This hike is not technical and the trail is easy to follow up the steep ridgeline to the summit. You should be comfortable hiking on loose scree and there is no water along the hike and no shade after the first 0.9 miles.

The trail begins by crossing the road from the parking area and following a very rough dirt road that heads in a northerly direction. You will be hiking mostly in aspen trees along this road and the first section of the trail.

0.0 mi ( 8,343 ft) to 0.4 mi (8,800 ft) -- Follow the 4X4 dirt road across from the trailhead parking area, at 0.4 miles turn right at the rock cairn. You are now on the trail to the summit.

0.4 mi (8,800 ft) to 0.9 mi (9,780 ft) -- This section starts in aspens and ends as you exit the last large bushes. The gradient, over this section, is moderate.

0.9 mi (9,780 ft) to 01.2 mi (10,490 ft) -- This is the steepest section of the hike, the trail is faint in places, so just stay on or near the ridge line.

1.2 mi (10,490 ft) to 01.46 mi (11,068 ft) -- This last section to the summit is slightly less steep than the previous section. Once again stay near the ridge, but overall the trail is fairly obvious.

In the photo below, we had just turned off the rough dirt road and onto the trail to the summit.

Below, we are above the aspens and large bushes and have started up the steepest section of the hike.

Below, one of the hikers who passed us on the steep section.

Our group at the summit, it took us about 2.5 hours to summit. After a nice lunch break, the return hike took about two hours

The day we hiked smoke from an Idaho fire was moderately thick in Utah Valley. Looking NNW are Cascade Peak and Mount Timpanogos, respectively six and eleven miles away. Due to the smoke, Mount Timpanogos was barely visible in the background.

Below, my son and daughter-in-law, picking their way down the trail a few hundred feet below the summit. In the far background sits Provo, again partially obscured due to the smoke.

History

10000 BC to 6500 BC -- Paleo-Indians who subsisted on hunting and plant gathering.

650 BC to 400 AD -- The Archaic Cultures also lived as hunter-gathers.

400 AD to 1300 AD -- The Fremont people were the first to introduce and live off of agriculture.

1300 AD to 1800 AD -- The Timpanogots (Utah Valley Utes) reverted back to a hunter-gather lifestyle.

1847 to present -- The Mormons arrived and stayed, introducing agriculture and industrialization.

The first documented human inhabitants near the Wasatch Front were the Paleo-Indians, who followed migrating big game into Utah. The nearest Paleo-Indian archeological sites are found along the Old River Bed delta, located in Dugway Proving Grounds, Utah. Then there is a long gap from 6,500 BC to 650 BC with no documented human habitation in this area.

The second documented group were Archaic people who dominated the area from 650 BC to 400 AD. They hunted small and midsized mammals and collected plant foods in Utah and Juab Valleys. Two Archaic camps have been excavated in the area: one at American Fork Cave and the other at Wolf Springs near Heber, Utah.

The first farming started around 400 A.D. when the Fremont people migrated into central Utah, likely from the south. They lived in scattered farmsteads and small villages in the valleys and benches of the Wasatch Front. They farmed corn, beans and squash and supplemented this with collecting wild plants and hunting game. Around 1300 A.D. the Fremont people abandoned their villages when the climate became colder making farming corn unreliable.

By A.D. 1300, the Numic people had settled across the Great Basin, likely arriving from southern California and/or northern Mexico. They replaced the Fremont people in northern and central Utah. These Numic people survived on hunting and gathering. Around 1400 A.D. the Utes and Goshutes, two distinct groups of Numic people, settled the lands in and around the Utah Valley.

The Utes that settled in Utah Valley, were known as the Timpanogots. Believed to have been named after Lake Timpanogos (Utah Lake). When the first Europeans arrived, Ute villages were located on the eastern side of Utah Valley along the rivers flowing into Utah Lake. Then in 1847, the Mormons arrived bring industrialization and advanced farming techniques.

Overgrazing in the early 1900s resulted in significant erosion along the higher elevations of the Wasatch Range. To combat this erosion and provided depression era jobs a vast system of erosion control terraces were built by the Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) during the 1930s. Numerous erosion control terraces can be seen on the hillsides of Provo Peak and the nearby mountains.

Primary website used for the history section

https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/uwcnf/learning/history-culture/?cid=stelprdb5052885

Flora and Fauna

This short hike exposes you to three climate ecozones, you start in the upper montane forest, transition to the subalpine zone for the second half of the hike, and cross into the alpine zone near the summit.

You start the hike in the upper montane forest. This zone is dominated by conifer forests and aspen groves. This trail wanders mostly through quaking aspens, with only the occasional conifer tree along the way. Although we saw no large mammals; elk, mule deer, black bears and cougars roam these forests.

The transition from upper montane forest to the subalpine zone begins when you exit the aspen trees and enter a patch of large bushes about 0.5 miles up the trail. These bushes stop at about 0.9 miles and 9,800 feet as you approach the long exposed ridgeline to the summit. Vegetation in this subalpine zone is determined by slope direction and wind exposure.

Once on the exposed ridge line you will find the slopes on the north side dominated by conifer trees and the southern facing slopes are dominated by grasses and small bushes. The actual ridge line is dominated by scree, grasses, flowers and small bushes. Your main animal company here will be small mammals and birds.

The transition from subalpine to alpine is near the summit, give or take a hundred feet. The alpine zone is free of trees and dominated by small plants, bushes and some flowers. Life is difficult here due to high winds and extreme cold much of the year.

Geology

At the Provo Peak trailhead you are standing on Mississippian age Manning Canyon Shale. Once you start up the trail you soon transition to younger Pennsylvanian age limestones, dolomites, shales and sandstones of the Oquirrh Formation. The rest of the hike is on Oquirrh Formation rocks. You just transition from older to younger Oquirrh Formation rocks as you climb higher.

Provo Peak is located in the Wasatch Range, a string of impressive peaks that run north-south bisecting the state of Utah. This range is also the western boundary of the Rocky Mountains in Utah.

The range is relatively young. Normal faulting and uplift of the range began about 12 to 17 million years ago, during the Miocene, and is still on going today. The numerus active faults associated with the Wasatch Range provides evidence of ongoing mountain building today.

Like most of the taller peaks in the Wasatch Range, Provo Peak was shaped by numerus episodes of glaciation. Glacial cirques make up the sides of many of the nearby peaks and large U shaped valleys are common at the higher elevations. The most recent glaciation ended about 20,000 years ago, when glaciers from the last ice age began to retreat as the climate warmed.

Deseret Peak, UT – 4th Most Prominent Peak In Utah

Deseret Peak ranks as only the 199th highest peak in Utah, but it ranks fourth in prominence at 5,812 feet. The peak is located in the Stansbury Mountains, about one hour west of Salt Lake City and the trailhead can be accessed with a 2WD vehicle. This hidden gem sees relatively little traffic, especially compared to the many popular peaks along the Wasatch Front. The scenery is spectacular and the summit offers dramatic views of the Wasatch Front, Great Salt Lake and mountain ranges of the Basin and Range Province.

Trailhead at 7,424 ft (2,263 m)	Summit at 11,035 Ft (3,663 m)
Total Elevation Gain of 3,900 ft (1,190 m)	Loop Trail of 8.3 miles (13.4 km)
Hiking Time from 5-8 hours	Several Class 2 (YDS) Sections; Upper Part

This is great hike to get a feel for hiking in the Basin and Range and get away from the Wasatch Front crowds. The hike is physically challenging, but relatively non-technical. There are some class two sections on the ridge lines near the summit. These parts could intimidate those with a fear of heights.

The trail classification system used in this blog is the YDS, Yosemite Decimal System

https://www.devilslakeclimbingguides.com/blog/understanding-climbing-ratings

Directions

From Salt Lake City it is approximately 47 miles to the trailhead and takes about one hour.

Take I-80 west, about twenty-seven miles, to Exit 94, SR 179 (Midvalley Hwy) at Lake Point. Follow SR 179 for three miles to where it merges with Utah 138. Follow Utah 138 for an additional seven miles to West Street in Grantsville, make a left on West Street, heading south. In 0.8 miles West Street turns into the Mormon Trail and in an additional 4.3 miles you make a right onto S. Willow Canyon Rd. This good dirt road ends in 5 miles, at the Loop Campground, the trailhead is near the port-a potty. A 2WD vehicle should have no issues making it to the trailhead.

Trail Info

The Google Earth image below shows the area with some snow, likely taken in the late spring or early summer. We hiked on Sept. 30, 2017. Earlier that month there were a couple of early snow storms. We encountered over a foot of new snow in places, mostly between Points 4 & 5, near the peak and on the upper ridge lines. For us, route finding was a bit of a challenge on the way down between points 4 to 5. Overall, we just stayed on the ridge line when in doubt and always found the trail again.

These mountains are popular with hunters, so if you are going in the fall, I suggest wearing bright clothing and talking loudly with you hiking companions.

Loop Trail to Deseret Peak Going Clockwise

Trailhead is at the western end of the camping/parking area.

Marker 1 - 0.7 miles from the trailhead. At the fork, go left, this is Mill Creek, which you follow uphill for 1.8 miles.

Marker 2 - At 2.5 miles, the valley ends, you then begin to switchback up a steep slope to an E-W trending ridgeline.

Marker 3 - At 3.3 miles turn right at the ridgeline, heading southwest, then west to the summit, a large low relief knob.

Marker 4 - After hiking 3.9 miles you have reached the summit. At the summit, either go back the way you came or descend following a series of ridge lines downhill in a northerly direction for 1.6 miles. This is the most difficult part of the trail, as the trail is faint in places and there is some exposure. Most of the class two sections are from Marker 4 to Marker 5.

Marker 5 - at 5.5 miles leave the ridgeline and go down the slope in a NE direction.

Marker 6 - at the 6 mile point, you reach a fork in the trail, go right, the trail heads easterly, then south back towards the peak.

Marker 7 - at 7 miles, cross a small stream and the trail does almost a 180, heading north, then slowly it begins to trend to the east.

Marker 1 (again) - at 7.6 miles, you are back at the fork from earlier in the hike, go left, downhill towards the trailhead.

Trailhead - at 8.3 miles you are back at the start of your hike.

I recommend the loop route, either clockwise or counter clockwise, we went clockwise. The faster route is to take the fork to your left at Point 1 and return the same way. The longest is to take the fork to your right at Point 1 and return the same way.

Although, I suggest the loop, there are several class 2 sections with some exposure between Points 4 & 5, making this the most difficult section of the hike. Also, parts of the trail are faint along this section. Next time I would go counterclockwise, since it's usually easier to follow a faint trail going uphill rather than following it downhill.

The photo below was taken on our way down, between Points 6 and 7. Deseret Peak is the highest point on the ridge line to the right of the two couloirs; these can be skied into early summer.

The views from the summit are fabulous on a clear day. Looking north-north-east you will see the Great Salt Lake, along with Antelope Island. To the east, in the foreground, are the Oquirrh Mountains which partially obscure the Wasatch mountains near Salt Lake City. Some of the higher Wasatch peaks can be seen over the tops of the Oquirrhs.

Mt. Timpanogos lies off to the ESE and Mt. Nebo is about 60 miles to the south-east

To the west, numerous mountain ranges of the basin and range province can be seen. The valley on the west side of the range is Skull Valley and the next mountains to the west are the Cedar Mountains. Eighty miles to the south-west are the high peaks of the Deep Creek Mountains. This range has two peaks over 12,000 feet; Ibapah at 12,087 ft. and Haystack at 12,020 ft.

As you depart the peak, stay near the ridge line if you are not sure where the trail goes. The photo below, likely taken as we approached Marker 5. The trail is behind the trees in the left foreground. The peak in the upper-middle left is a few hundred of feet below the summit.

My friend Jane and her dog Stark as we descended toward the trailhead, dogs and horses are allowed on the trail. We were mostly alone, encountering a few hikers on the way to the peak, but none of them followed us to the summit. We did not pass or see a anyone on the way back to the trailhead.

Camping

The Loop Campground, at the trailhead consists of thirteen campsites with dirt pads. These are modest campsites without water or electricity, but each has a picnic table and flat area for camping. The campground is a nice secluded area surrounded by aspens, box elder trees and Douglas fir. We did not camp the night before our hike, as we were unaware the campsite existed.

Even though the trailhead is close to Salt Lake and Provo, I would consider driving up the afternoon before hiking. This will provide you with a pleasant evening in the outdoors and no need to drive the morning of your hike.

History

In 1984 Congress established the Deseret Peak Wilderness, an area of 25,000 acre on National Forest lands in the center of the Stansbury Mountains. The range was named after Capt. Howard Stansbury, who led a U.S. Army Corps of Topographical Engineers expedition in 1849-50 to survey the Great Salt Lake and its vicinity.

Based on archaeological evidence the earliest artifacts place Native Americans in this area about 10,000 to 12,000 years ago. These paleolithic people lived near Great Basin wetlands. As these wetlands disappeared over the centuries, the paleolithic people were replaced by the Desert Archaic people. Evidence of Archaic people was found in caves near the Great Salt Lake, their population started to decrease about 3,500 years ago as lake levels rose in the area.

The next migration were Native Americans of the Fremont Culture, they lived in the area from about 600 AD until 1000 AD. As this culture faded, it was replaced by the Goshute Indians who migrated to the area and assimilated the Fremont Indians.

The Goshutes were hunter-gathers who lived a subsistence life style. Living mostly off of seasonal seeds, pine nuts, roots, insects and small reptiles. Hunting small game, antelopes and deer provided some supplementary food to their merger diet.

In 1847 the Mormons arrived and the Goshute lifestyle began to unravel as settlers encroached on their land. The Goshutes were moved to two reservations in the eastern part of the Great Basin early in the twentieth century. One of these is in Skull Valley on the west side of the Stansbury Mountains, the other is on the west side of the Deep Creek Mountains. Today the remaining small population still live on these reservations and in the communities near-by.

Flora and Fauna

The high mountain ranges of the Great Basin are botanically unique due to their isolated montane , subalpine and alpine floras. Surrounded by desert, these island-like ranges have characteristics in common with oceanic islands (Harper et al.1978). The Stansbury Mountains, are some what unique, their flora being transitional between the Great Basin ranges and the Wasatch Mountains. (Taye, Alan C. 1983)

Several distinct vegetation zones exist in the Stansbury Mountains. In order of increasing elevation, the semiarid valley floors consist of shadscale, sagebrush and grass, the foothills began around 5,000 feet, with the flanks of the mountain speckled with juniper trees. At about 7,500 feet you enter the montane live zone where the juniper trees are replaced by Douglas fir and white fir. You enter the subalpine life zone at From 9000 ft. where you encounter Engelmann spruce and subalpine fir. This range also contains some bristlecone pine intermixed with limber pine, usually found above 10,000 feet. The alpine zone begins at 10,500 ft. on the upper ridges and peaks, where only small scrubs and plants are found.

The range contains approximately 180 species of animals according to the BLM;114 are bird species, 51 are mammals, and 15 are reptiles. These including mule deer, badgers, bobcats and mountain lions, along with numerous smaller mammals. Seventeen species of raptors are found in the area, including the occasional sighting of both bald and golden eagles in the northern part of the range.

Geology

The Stansbury Mountains are a 26 miles long N-S trending anticline with a width of up to ten miles. Structurally the range is a large eastern tilted block. The peaks and ridges are composed of Paleozoic sediments, with the oldest sediments making up the central part of the range. Mountain valleys are filled with glacial till and stream alluvium. The range is structurally complex due to Paleozoic uplift, followed by Mesozoic compression, then during the Cenozoic, the extensional tectonics that formed the Basin and Range Province.

Evidence of Lake Bonneville in the form of terraces and wave-cut cliffs can be found around the base of the range.

As you drive to the trailhead the youngest hills, near the valley floor, are composed of Eocene volcanics, you then pass a section of hills composed of Pennsylvanian to Mississippian age limestones, sandstones and shales. These sit unconformably on the Cambrian sediments, predominately quartzites, that make up the hills and ridges that surround Deseret Peak. . Once you start hiking to Deseret Peak, all the hills you pass are composed of these Cambrian age rocks.

The U-shaped valleys surrounding Deseret Peak were carved by multiple episodes of glaciation, with the last glaciers disappearing about 14,000 years ago. The valley fill is glacial till left behind as the last glaciers retreated. Numerous cirques can be seen from the summit and there are small lakes in two of the cirque basins.

Mt. Nebo, UT -- Wasatch Front's Highest Peak

Mt. Nebo -- Overview

Mount Nebo, at 11,928 feet, is the highest peak on the Wasatch Front. It is also Utah’s fifth most prominent peak at 5,508 feet. This trail is only a moderately hiked, primarily due to the remoteness of the trailhead, which is a two hour drive from Salt Lake City. The hike is rated as difficult and the last ridge to the summit has some exposure. It took my son, Joshua, and I about seven hours to complete the hike on September 21, 2019, we hiked at a moderate pace and ate lunch on the summit.

Trailhead at 9,260 ft (2,823 m)	Summit at 11,928 ft (3,636 m)
Total Elevation Gain of 3,570 ft (1,088 m)	An out-back trail of 8.7 mi (14 km)
Hiking time of five to eight hours	Last mile is a mix of Class 2 and 3 (YDS)

The trail classification system used in this blog is the YDS, Yosemite Decimal System

https://www.devilslakeclimbingguides.com/blog/understanding-climbing-ratings

August is a good month for wildflowers, and the scenery is great anytime. Deer and elk can be found below tree line and mountain goats inhabit the upper part of the mountain. This is a dog friendly trail, with horses allowed. It is not a kid friendly trail due to the overall length and the technical difficulty of the last mile to the summit.

We spotted this herd of mountain goats on our decent. We were looking back at the peak, when my son spotted this herd on steep east facing ridge about a quarter mile away.

Directions

Head south from downtown Salt Lake City on Interstate 15 for about 55 miles then take exit 250, the Payson exit. Turn left off the exit to head south into Payson. Once in Payson, turn left on 100 North and then after a half mile turn right onto 600 East, the Nebo Loop road. Follow this road up into Payson Canyon for just under 25 miles to the trailhead.

Once on the Nebo Loop road, FR 015, drive up Payson Canyon to the Nebo Branch Monument Trailhead. Turn left into the parking lot and after about 50 feet turn right onto FR 160. Follow FR 160, a good dirt road, for about 1500 feet to a small parking area and the trailhead. A 2WD car can easily make it to the trailhead.

There is a difficult to follow trail at the Nebo Bench/Monument Trailhead, this trail first goes to South Nebo Peak then to Nebo Peak and is about 15 miles round trip. If you are think about hiking this route, do some additional research before setting off.

Trail Info

Although the most popular hike on the Wasatch Front is Mt. Timpanogos, at 11,752 feet, The Mt. Timpanogos hike is14.8 mi round trip with an elevation gain of 4,389 ft, making for a long day of hiking. The allure of Mount Nebo, it is the highest peak on the Wasatch Front at 11,928 ft. The hike is only 8.7 miles and the elevation gain is just 3,570 feet. The scenery is great and traffic is moderate, vs. the heavily trafficked hike up Mt. Timpanogos. The mountain also has some of the most massive glacial cirques along the Wasatch Front.

Mt. Nebo actually has two summits, the north and south, with the north being the higher of the two. This route takes you to the north summit of Mt. Nebo. This is not to be confused with North Peak at 11,174 feet, which you pass hiking to Mount Nebo.

In the above Google Earth image, north is at the bottom, the Mt. Nebo route is in red and the yellow route is the spur tail that takes you to North Peak.

The information in this blogs is for hiking Mount Nebo when it is snow free. Attempting this hike with snow would make it a much more technical and potentially dangerous hike.

The trail, the red line on the Google Earth image above, starts from the dirt parking lot at 9,260 feet and heads westerly, at the beginning running parallel to a cow The trail gradually gets steeper until you gain a northeast-southwest trending ridge at 2.4 miles, see photo below. At this point you have your first good view that includes North Peak, the false summit and Mt. Nebo, which is still 1.9 miles to the south.

Once on the ridge, above photo, the trail follows the ridge for about 300 yards where you will encounter a fork. Staying on the ridge, the left branch, takes you to North Peak, at 11,174 feet. The right branch takes you to Wolf pass and then onto Mt. Nebo.

You can make this a two summit day by including North Peak in your hike. North Peak is usually done as an out and back from the fork. This adds about 400 feet of elevation and three quarters of a mile to the Mount Nebo hike.

Taking the right branch takes you to Wolf Pass and then on to Mt Nebo. The trail is cut into a steep west facing slope that has a few undulation as you cross to Wolf Pass. From Wolf Pass, Mt. Nebo is only another 0.9 miles, but this entails an elevation gain of approximately 1300 feet, making this the steepest and most difficult part of the hike.

Leaving Wolf Pass you head up a steep set of switch backs to the false summit of Mt. Nebo. The steep switchbacks up to the false summit are mostly class one and a few class two sections, but steep.

The photo below was taken just after the false summit looking towards Mt. Nebo, which is hidden in the clouds. Between the false summit and Mount Nebo is a ridge line followed by scramble to the summit. This part of the trail contains both Class 2 and Class 3 sections. In places the ridge contains numerous interwoven trails, staying near the ridge line provides the safest option. There is significant exposure on this last section; this hike is not for those with exposure issues.

This last section of the hike provides some of the most exposed geology on the mountain. The sedimentary rocks, in the photo above, consist of layers of sandstones and quartzes that were deposited during the Pennsylvanian and Permian from 318 to 251 million years ago, just before dinosaurs appeared in the Triassic.

The last push to the peak, after the exposed ridge line, is a class three scramble and to us there was no obvious best route. At this point, we stored out trekking poles to keep our hands free for summit scramble.

We summited on September 21, 2019, the first day of fall, it was a tad cold and windy on the top. Everyone had on a jacket and a couple of more layers to stay warm. Although it was cold on top, temperatures were refreshingly pleasant during the rest of the hike.

Since all routes down from the peak, include class three sections, we departed the summit with our poles in our backpacks until we reached the ridge line. Once on the ridge I only used one pole allowing me a free hand to grab a rock outcrop when needed.

History

On occasion I like to check the internet for the origins of a mountain’s name. The original Mount Nebo was where Moses first viewed the "Promised Land" just before his death. It was the highest mountain in the ancient region of Moab, a hilly region on the eastern side of the Dead Sea which is the lowest spot on earth at -1388 feet. The biblical Mt. Nebo is located approximately 10 miles east of and 3700 feet above the Dead Sea in modern day Jordan.

"Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, the headland of Pisgah which faces Jericho, and the Lord showed him all the land … So there, in the land of Moab, Moses, the servant of the Lord, died as the Lord had said." Deuteronomy 34 v1-5 (Deuteronomy 34 v1-5 ).

The early Mormons also used the name Moab, but for a town is south-eastern Utah, 150 miles from Mt. Nebo. It would have been more biblically accurate to have named the town just west of Mt. Nebo, Moab, instead it was named Mona, go figure.

Geology

Mount Nebo is composed of layers of limestone, sandstones, quartzite and shales. The oldest rocks, Cambrian age, are located at the base of the mountain on the north-west flank, near Mona, UT. The youngest rocks, Pennsylvanian to Permian age, are on the summit. To state the obvious, the rock layers get younger the higher you go on the mountain.

Just north of Mona, the cliffs near the valley floor are Tintic Quartzite of the Lower Cambrian. These are overlain by the Ophir Shale, also Lower Cambrian, which forms a slope above the Tintic Quartzite cliffs and below the Upper Cambrian limestones cliffs.

A sequence of limestone layers from Devonian to Lower Pennsylvanian form the middle part of the north-west flank.

The upper part of the mountain is composed of just one formation, the Oquirrh Formation. These rocks were deposited during the Permian and Pennsylvanian. The Oquirrh Formation consists of interbedded layers of limestone, sandstone, and quartzite. Limestones dominate the lower part of the sequence and sandstones and quartzite dominating the upper part of the formation, exposed near the summit of Mount Nebo

Fauna and Flora

Rocky mountain goats were transplanted to the Mt. Nebo area during the 1980s and are considered the most unique fauna on the mountain. There are also elk and deer below tree line, but we did not see any on our hike.

White fir and aspen dominate in the montane zone from approximately 7,000 -- 9,000 feet. The flora on the subalpine slopes is dominated by subalpine fir and Engelmann spruce from approximately 9,000 --11,000 feet. Above 11,000 feet is the alpine zone which is mostly barren with exposed bedrock and loose scree.