Top of the Wasatch

A few weeks ago Cary, Paula, Michael, Jesse, and Stephen set out on a trip to the top of the Wasatch. For those who are reading this blog and do not know what the Wasatch is, it is a mountain range in Utah. On this particularly warm day in July we were on a quest to conquer the tallest mountain in the Wasatch, Mount Nebo a 11928 foot tall behemoth.
With Paula setting the pace for the group we set off on our journey. With the parking lot still in the background we followed this old barbed wire fence for the first little bit of the hike. The trail started out with a gradual and very misleading climb.
Because this was the first time that that any of us had climbed Nebo none of us was sure of the exact rout to the top. As you can see in this picture we all had a different idea about the direction that we should be headed in.
As we climbed higher into the sky the trees became more and more scarce while last years snow lingered well into the summer defying the summers sun.


After about 2 hours of hiking we had reached Wolf Pass this pass is just over 10000 feet high but still far from the top. Once we reached this pass we had less than one mile left to go on our five mile hike to reach the summit. Although we were so close to the top we were no where near finished. Once reaching Wolf Pass we had close to half of our elevation gain left but only 3/4 of a mile to stretch it out in. The last leg of the trail leading to the summit follows the ridge line.

Once reaching the top of the mountain we all felt like celebrating our accomplishment. That feeling of celebration was fleeting as we sat atop the Wasatch, as we started to think about the trip back down, we were only half way done. After spending some time at the top eating our lunch and resting for the return trip we set off back down the the car and civilization. It took another 3 hours to make it to the bottom where the car was waiting to take us home.