Wouldn’t you know it, the weather today was all but perfect.  Yeah, there were some big puffy clouds about, but otherwise the sky was sunny and blue and the temperature right around 90.  Would have been good hiking weather, but I got too late of a start, and decided to go for a Sunday drive instead.

When my friend Sra moved far away forever, she sent me a selection of guide books she had in her collection detailing Utah.  Since she’s in Oregon now, she felt the Utah books would benefit me far more than her, so they since have come to be in my possession.  These books have been the best gift I’ve received from anyone in a long time.  Not only have they given me a few more target mountains to climb before the year is out, they’ve also brought several wonderful places to my attention that I may have not heard about otherwise.  They are treasured items to me now.

One such new discovery was a stretch of road called the Nebo Loop Scenic Byway.  It’s in the Uinta National Forest, down around the Payson area, and extending into Nephi.  It’s only about 45 minutes from my place, so I decided to check it out.  It’s a great 2 (or so) hour drive through some of the prettiest country in Utah, and it covers a pretty diverse landscape ranging from tree-covered mountains to incredible cliff vistas to red rock formations.  I definitely had a great time with this, and I can’t WAIT to go back soon when all of the leaves start changing to see this place in the Fall.  It will be a thousand times more beautiful then.

This is just one of the many such views to be had.  Looking almost due East over a valley.

Mooooove out of the way, cows.  Photography enthusiast and well-known hamburger eater coming through.

Yonder peak is called Mount Nebo.  It is the tallest mountain in the Wasatch front, and is on my short list of mountains to be climbed.  Probably not this year, but definitely by next.  It is quite daunting, and this picture does not do it justice in any way.  This will be the biggest challenge ever.

One of the coolest places in the loop is “Devil’s Kitchen.”  It’s a series of red rock formations set against a cliff that predates the Wasatch range itself.  Sort of a miniature Bryce canyon.  It’s a pretty stark contrast to everything else around it.

One more shot looking out from Devil’s Kitchen toward the base of Mount Nebo.  An amazingly deep valley (once again, photography simply doesn’t give it the proper scale), and a sight to behold.

As I said, I’m going back in a month or so when Fall is in and all the colors will make this place truly come alive.  Anyone wanna come with?

We’d planned to do it the previous Saturday, but Sra had a bit of a cold and it rained/snowed all day anyway, so we rescheduled for Thursday.  This turned out to be for the best, because the weather was cool and dry, with clouds most of the day, and it made for perfect hiking conditions.  Probably couldn’t have asked for a better day.

We started out pretty early.  I think we got to the peak right before 8AM, just as the sun was coming up.  After gearing up, we headed up the steep incline that forms the first mile-and-a-half of the trail.

The hike was pretty easy going at first.  It’s a fairly steep trail, but the first half of it isn’t too bad otherwise.  Mostly switchbacks going to and fro up the mountain, then a straight trial that runs parallel to a deep canyon.  Views of the valley enhance the hike, as your elevation climbs pretty quickly.  Passing through a few groves of trees and bushes finally brings you to the halfway point, which is a trickling stream.  I have dubbed it “Sucky Stream.”

From that point on, there is no respite.  The hike turns from an enjoyable stroll up the mountain into a hellish nightmare of climbing an ancient dried-up stream bed, complete with just enough small boulders spaced perfectly to induce the maximum amount of tripping and cursing, sweating and panting, and cramping muscle fatigue.  It’s a good workout to be sure, but that effort is rewarded when you finally come to a clearing at the top.  The only level place on the entire hike is a visual wonder, looking southeast along the Wasatch front across a massive canyon, with eagles soaring overhead (not kidding) backed by incredible views of the Twin Peaks and Lone Peak in the distance.  Stunning, believe me.  This picture doesn’t begin to do it justice.

After resting for a bit, we tackled the hard part.  During our research on the hike, we read of other people doing it, and they referred to a “scramble” that makes up the last 600 feet to the peak.  Ok, we thought.  No problem.  After all, lots and lots of people climb to the summit every year, so two healthy young people should be able to handle it.  We’ve been doing progressively harder hikes all summer in preparation, so we’re ready.  Right?

Well, we discovered the limits of our hiking abilities that day.  Scrambling is literally climbing, using your hands and knees.  We definitely weren’t prepared for the amount of scrambling we’d eventually end up doing, and to top that off, we lost the trail halfway up.  In our efforts to find it, we made an unfortunate detour to the “Cliff of Doom”, which was an attempt to scale the large boulders where inexperienced climbers like us dare not go.  I’ll tell you, I’m not afraid of heights at all, but when you’re perched on a large, flat boulder on the side of a mountain top, and the only thing between you and the valley floor over four thousand feet below you is a slim mountain goat path and some scrub brush, you tend to get a little freaked, especially with the number of people who get lost or hurt doing this climb every year.  After realizing the mistake of climbing up that, coming back down was even harder.  Thankfully both of us made it down safely, but the hike almost turned back there.

Bravely, we soldiered on.  We met a helpful guy coming down who gave us directions back to the trail, and we promptly set out to get lost yet again.  Making our way back to the trail (finally), we ascended the last little bit to the peak.

After a summer of prep, several hikes, and a bit of delay, we finally reached the summit of Mount Olympus.  The view from there is spectacular, and every bit worth the effort.  You literally almost feel like you’re on top of the world, standing like a hero with hands on hips, the master of all you survey.

But wait, there’s more!  If that weren’t enough, Sra and I also took some video.  I mean, it’s one thing to read my never-ending babble about the hike, but it’s nothing compared to seeing it for yourself.  Courtesy of Sra‘s most excellent purchase of a tiny hand held video camera, we’re able to bring our hike right to you, almost like you were there with us.

One note about the video:  We shot almost an entire hour of goodness at varying places on the hike, and documented it pretty well, but because of YouTube‘s time limit, I had to edit it all down to a scant ten minutes.  I’m not overly thrilled with the final product, given that 75% of it is edited out, but even in its shortened form, I tried to make it entertaining, so I hope you enjoy it.  Don’t forget to leave comments!

Note:  I’ve discovered that for some reason the embedded video below loads extremely slowly.  It may be best to click over to the actual video itself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8nPCbB6iqc&fmt=18 as it seems to load much faster there.  Weird.

Lastly, I’d like to thank Sra for being an amazing friend, and sharing this amazing hike with me.  Thanks for letting me have this experience with you, and I can’t wait to see what’s in store next year!

Of course, I had to size down these pictures to fit on the blog, but I’ve left them linked so you can see them in higher resolution.  Just give them a clickie if you want.  Also, don’t forget you can see each of them along with many more on my Flickr page.  If you like what you see, please feel free to leave a comment as well.

Today I and my trusty camera made our way up to Silver lake once again.  This weekend brought some rain to the whole of the Salt Lake valley, and rain in the valley in the Fall means snow in the mountains.  Just a dusting, as you can see, but enough to make everything jaw-droppingly gorgeous. 

After a walk around the lake, I struck out on the path that leads above the lake, and found even more vibrant color and amazing scenery.  I can’t believe how pretty Utah is this time of year.

This picture is looking out over the lake toward the Brighton Ski resort, which, a scant couple of months from now, will be completely covered with light, fluffy snow the kind skiers and snowboarders live for.  Even the lake itself and the surrounding trees you see here will be covered with a couple hundred inches of snow.  Until then though, you can’t beat the scenery of Autumn Pretty.