South summit of Mount Nebo

On Saturday I hiked with my friend John to the 11,877-foot south summit of Mount Nebo, which is the tallest mountain in Utah's Wasatch Range. We hiked to Nebo's north summit, which is the highest of its three peaks, on the same weekend last year. This year we took the Andrew's Ridge route to the slightly-lower south summit.

We left Provo around 4:45 a.m., drove down toward Nephi, and reached the trailhead a little before 6 a.m. When I went to change from my Chacos into my hiking boots, I discovered that I had brought only one sock. (The silly things you do early in the morning....) Rather than wear one boot without a sock, I decided to just wear my Chacos.

The weather was perfect, and the hike went pretty quickly, especially considering how little hiking I did this summer. The sandals worked pretty well, and we made it to the top in a little over four hours. After a nice 40-minute rest on the summit, we headed down.

My Chacos didn't treat me quite as well on the way down. After a couple of hours of hiking, I had developed quite a collection of blisters. I kept hobbling down, but after a while I had to stop. Thankfully, John had brought moleskin, and I covered my feet with it. He even let me wear his socks, which was a lifesaver. (Thanks John!)

I made it the rest of the way down, and we reached the car a little before 3 p.m. In spite of a little podiatric pain, I really enjoyed the hike. John and I had some good conversations, and I had some time to think about life.

My pictures from the hike are online.