top of page

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

Writer's picture: Ronald (Steve) BoulterRonald (Steve) Boulter

Updated: Mar 8, 2023

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.


7 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Comments


Subscribe for Updates

Thanks for submitting!

Tel: +1 435 640 3360, info@seasonedsaunterers.com

©2022 The Seasoned Saunterers

bottom of page