Mt. Nebo and a heart attack

Back in 2007 Lisa, Shena, and I wanted to hike Mt. Nebo, but it was postponed because Mt. Nebo was on fire the weekend we had the hike scheduled. Two years later the stars aligned and we all got together and hiked it the last Saturday of August. We had a fun group including Lisa and her boyfriend Eric; Shena and Smalls (they served in Albania with me); George's old roommate Mike and his bro-in-law Scott, and bringing up the rear George and me (mostly just me!)

The trail head - we had no idea what was ahead of us...maybe that's why we all look so happy :)

L-R Scott, Mike, George, Liz, Shena, Smalls, Lisa, & Eric

Stats on Mt. Nebo (may not be accurate):

• Highest peak in Wasatch Range
• 11,860'
• 3,340' elevation gain from trail head
• 14 miles round trip
• 9 hours

None of us had ever hiked Mt. Nebo before, and all the info we could find online seemed to vary, so we weren't sure what we were getting into. We decided to camp the night before in order to get an early start on Saturday. We found a great (and free) campsite just minutes from the trail head at Cottonwood Campground. This was definitely the most relaxing part of the trip :) On the interstate side of the mountain it looks very barren, but the side we hiked up and camped on has a stream running through with lots of foliage. It's a great place to camp!

At 8 am on Saturday morning we headed up the trail...there was NO warm-up. I was breathing hard 10 steps into the steep trail. I kept pushing on thinking for sure the flat spot would be right up ahead. It never came. Even after we got up on the ridge it didn't seem to get any easier.

The Gals - this was seriously one of the only flat spots on the hike. That is Andrews Ridge behind us. We hiked up there. Mmm hmm!

Don't let Shena's sweet smile fool you, this girl is hard core!

Lisa misbehaving again :P

About 3 miles into the hike I'm pretty sure I started experiencing altitude sickness...headache, nausea, and loss of appetite. George and I ended up only going about 12 miles total and during that whole time I guzzled down water and Gatorade. But I only ate a couple wheat thins and a piece of cheese and a couple grapes. As I was doubled over sucking in Oxygen, I thought of my brother-in-law, Joe. He always asks me why I do these kinds of excursions. And honestly most of this hike I couldn't come up with a good answer for him!

The summit - just out of reach. I'm guessing we were about a mile from the top. This is where I decided I'd gone far enough and opted to take an alpine nap instead. The rest of our group is on the summit in this photo...hard to see, but they are the specs on top. Go team!

Shena and Smalls were hard core and decided to head on to the North Peak, which is the true summit. Apparently it was super sketchy rock climbing/scrambling. Fortunately they met up with a friend from another group and they ended up going down a different trail and getting a ride back to their car.

George's knees were KILLING him on the way back down...the walking stick helped some.

And that was our Mt. Nebo excursion. Although it wasn't the most pleasant hike, it was a fun outing and I'm glad we finally did it! I decided it's probably not the best idea to go from sea level to hiking a mountain over 11,000 feet in less than a week. I'm sure my out-of-shapeness had something to do with my pain as well :) But it really was fun with all the great company and getting up to heights where we could enjoy beautiful views is always pleasant.

One of my life goals is to climb at least one mountain a year: 2009, check!