Just checked off another county high point. Took the North Route off of Mona Pole Rd. It’s a clean cut trail that slowly approaches the mountain while going up and down over a couple hills before you enter a basin on the North-East side of North Peak. The trail does a couple switchbacks before switching to a squiggle of a trail climbing directly up towards the ridge line. Once you’re on the ridge, the trail rises and falls on the East slope of North Peak where you get your first good view of Mt Nebo, and eventually curves around to Wolf’s Pass. Next is a 1200 ft climb up the North slope of an unnamed sub-peak. Once on top of that, you can see the final trek across a connecting ridge with steep slopes, tricky moves, and a use trail that’s very easy to lose. There’s a great view of Hell Hole Basin on your left as you cross that ridge. Once across, it’s a final push up to the summit of Nebo — officially 11,928 ft — with loose scree and plenty of exposure. Best part though, it only takes 4.5 miles to get there, and once you’ve had enough of a higher altitude experience, it’s a quick descent back to Wolf’s Pass. The clouds were building the whole trip, and once we were safely off North Peak it started to sprinkle on and off for the rest of the hike.
Maybe next time I’ll try it from Andrew’s Ridge and see what that endurance fest is all about.