Mr. & Mrs. Lemich: July 2013

Mount Nebo

Peak Elevation: 11,929 ft

Total Time: 7hr 5 min (10:00 am-5:05pm)

Total Distance: 11 miles (5.5 to peak)

Elevation gained: 3,351

Average speed: 2.2 mph

Today was one of the largest hiking adventures of my life. Mount Nebo is the highest mountain in Utah County, and the highest in the Wasatch Mountain Range. It is 11,929 ft high with trail length of 11 miles to the peak, and a gain of 3,351 feet in elevation. It is named after Mount Nebo in Jerusalem from the Bible. Mike's uncle Nathan from California planned this hike and invited the cousins. Everyone met at our apartment at 8 where we then made the hour-ish drive to the trail head in uncle Nathan's van. Today's hiking companions? Aunt Kirstan, Nathan, Michael, Dallin, Amber, and Nathanael. Knowing the hike could take anywhere from 6-8 hours, we loaded our backpacks full of sustenance.

We started off the hike not really sure which peak was Nebo. We ended up having to go around the backside of North Peak, over Wolf Pass peak, thru Wolf Pass and then climbed to the top of Nebo's Peak. It had been raining off and on for the past 3 days in Utah county leaving us with fairly cool breezy hiking temperatures. Much of the trail was very narrow making good balance key. While on North Peak, we were hiking on a very narrow rocky trail with a steep drop off. As I was walking, I put my foot down on a rock, which then gave way tumbling down the drop off causing a small rockslide avalanche. My leg also went with it, sliding down the slide of the cliff (leaving my left foot still on the trail). Nathanael, who was right behind me, saw the whole scene quickly coming to my rescue. Mike (who had been in front) also turned around to help me get both feet back up on the trail. The last 1,000 feet of the climb went practically straight uphill, resulting in climbing up sharp jagged rocks on our hands and feet. This point of the hike was more mountain climbing than hiking. I would hardly call what we did just hiking. Although there were very steep treacherous climbs and passes, we made it to the top in excellent spirits.

( Almost there, just have to get to that peak behind us, I also had to take my ring off after this picture so it didn't get scratched up)

After 5.4 miles of trekking, we reached the summit enabling us to sign our name on the log book and hold up the American flag that sat waiting for us at the top of the peak. We rested for about 25 minutes feeling very accomplished. Everyone also peed off of the summit- including me. Don't worry, no one saw. Remember how I said it had been raining off and on for the past couple days? Well, as we sat at the highest peak in the region, we saw storm clouds swirling all around us. Tho they seemed to be closing in from every direction, one of the boys assured us that they would be passing just West of us. Not twenty minutes after we started our descent, I felt a drop on my head. We began to quickly hike down, finding the trek down much harder than the hike up. This was due to the slippery steep rock "path".

I felt like the hobbits on our way to Mordor

(Nathanael thought it was funny that Mike & I were both huffing and puffing at the same time)

(yes this is our "trail" along the top of that ridge)

Making our way to the tip of that point!

While descending Nebo, as we were about to hop onto North Peak, we became separated as some were hiking down faster than others. All of a sudden it began to downpour while thunder boomed in the distance. At this point, Mike and I decided to high tail it off the mountain since we were still at 11,000 feet AND we were one of the tallest objects in the area due to lack of trees.

Kissing on top of the world (I'm standing on a rock)

This next part I view as a tender mercy from the Lord. We began to sprint as fast as we could down the trail trying to make our way to an area of trees in the distance. During this time, adrenaline completely took over. I felt no pain or muscle soreness, even though we had already hiked 5 hours. Rain and hail beat down upon us while lighting flashed across the sky. Thankfully there were fairly long gaps of time inbetween each strike. I was praying in my heart that we would just make it to safety. We ran to a small area of trees which comforted us slightly because we were no longer the tallest objects on the mountain. Although we all know that if lightning struck the tree, we would most likely go down as well. Mike and I were completely alone because the other hikers were further behind us. We hugged each other in the pouring hailing rain and offered out loud a prayer that we would be able to make it safely down and off the mountain with out getting struck by lightning. We spent the next mile sprinting from area of tree to area of tree before we were able to make it down off the mountain and into the forest area on the mountain side. It is hard to describe how scary the situation was, but at the time, being struck by lighting was a real possibility. I had an ongoing prayer in my heart and mind during the whole storm that everyone in our party would make it to safety. (A second miracle is that during our sprint on rough terrain, neither of us tripped, fell, or hurt ourselves.)

Finally the storm ended allowing us to finish the remaining 3ish miles with sunshine and wet sopping shoes. After 7 hours of what I would call pretty extreme hiking, we finally made it back to the van. It was so amazing to just sit down on the seat and drink water. Once everyone arrived back at the van, we drove back down the mountain and went to feast on sweet pork burritos at Costa Vida. It was such an amazing experience and I had an absolute blast. I am so grateful we had the opportunity to conquer Mount Nebo!

My Fourth of July break started on Tuesday (7/2) around 2:00. I was excited to get 5 days to relax, play, and party. I entertained myself by crafting, cooking, & swimming until Wednesday night when Michael got off school. Then, we drove to Cedar City to spend the rest of the week with our families down south. Half of the Lemich family was at a reunion in Zion until Thursday afternoon. Thursday morning, we decided to make patriotic firecracker pancakes. Mike and I ate one stack, while Alyssa and her boyfriend Brady ate the other. We went to the movies to see Despicable Me 2, and then went out for wings. Once others arrived, we played sports outside while it rained on us. Later in the evening some of their cousins arrived. We watched the Cedar City firework show while eating DQ blizzards, and then we did our own firework show out in street for over an hour. It was a great Fouth.