NEBO LOOP ROAD

Laurie HealeyAugust 5, 2014

Nebo loop

From Nephi in Juab County, heading east along highway 132 the mountainside to the north

has red sandstone showing partway down the slope and the mountain has an upthrust of about

65° on top this was caused by the Nebo thrust fault (Chronic, 1990). Mount Nebo has three

distinct peaks. The northern most is the highest peak in Utah at 11,928 Ft. (summitpost.org,

2007). Looking at the picture you can also see very clearly the limestone strata near the top. All

around the southern portion are sandstone foothills.

This is Mount Nebo looking north at the south face.

To the south there is evidence of mining on the hummocky hills at the base of Nebo. When

you enter the Nebo loop scenic byway you notice an outcrop of light colored mudstone rich in

gypsum (Chronic, Halka, 1990) and further along some hoodoos.

The road follows a small stream known as the salt Creek. There are campgrounds along this

portion of the foothills near the stream and also a ranching access. On both sides of the road here

there is evidence of lake bottom sediment, which came from a time before the uplift of the

Wasatch range, that has been weathered into hoodoos and caves. The mountain tops were then

covered in glacial ice for a period of time during the Pleistocene Epoch but were relatively small

glaciers because the cirques that were formed created moraine that only traveled down the

mountain slope to the 9000 Ft elevation. As you can see in the picture there are 3 very

distinguishable cirques on the east side of the mountain which are much smaller than those on

the west face (Chronic, Halka, 1990).

This is Mount Nebo’s east face. Picture shows hummocky lake bottom in the forefront.

As I observed more of the terrain the road headed up the foothills toward the north. The

sandstone became red in color as indicated in the photo, indicating more iron present in the rock.

When we reached 8000 Ft. We reached the lookout for devil’s kitchen geologic site. If you look

from here back toward the south where we entered the canyon you can see a very large slump to

the south east of the road. You can see it in the photo. The whole area is very susceptible to this

kind of erosion due to the steep slopes and layers of sandstone and shale that alternate with each

other. In fact there was a slump in 2011 which closed the road for a few months so the debris

could be removed from it. Whenever there is a heavy winter snow or heavy rainfall there will

most likely be a slump somewhere in this valley.

This is a view of the slump formed in 1983.

Turning back to the northeast you can see devil’s kitchen geologic site which has been described

as a mini Bryce canyon. As I observed the formation closely I saw that the hoodoos, columns

and cones I was used to seeing made of sandstone or mudstone were not found here.

Conglomerate sandstone formations.

These formations are made from conglomerate material which indicates this area was a place of

dissolution from a river or mountain weathering anciently. (U.S. forest service). The capstones

seem to be made of a finer grained material than the columns which could explain why they

became hoodoos.

These are some of the hoodoos and columns in Devils Kitchen.

The rocks themselves are from the price river formation which was formed 60 to 70 million

years ago, but there are still disagreements in the geologic community. (Milligan, Mark, 2011).

This is a view of the cones in Devils Kitchen.

As we traveled farther along we crossed into Utah county just before the summit of the pass

between Mt. Nebo/Bald mountain and the Timpanogos mountain area to the north. This pass is

the connection between the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National forests as well as the county lines

and drainage basins for 3 counties, Juab, Utah and Sanpete. (Utah forest service)

This is a view of Mount Nebo and Bald Mountain from the 9000 Ft elevation.

As you can see in the photo from here you can see the north face of Mt Nebo along with Bald

mountain. Just past the summit there is an overlook to Utah Lake 5000 Ft below.

. This is the Utah Lake overlook near the summit of the Nebo Loop Rd.

Near the sight of this picture you can see evidence of past logging. There is also still ranching

occurring and there is a service road for Mona and one for Santaquin. As you descend down the

north end of the road into Payson there are many more campgrounds. Some are built around

small mountain lakes at about 7800 ft. Big East Reservoir or Payson Lake is the largest of these

half dozen lakes and has a dam and drainage system since 1898 so that it can be used for

irrigation. Box Lake and McClellan Lake are also part of the campground area here. (U.S. forest

service). There is also evidence of extensive ranching, farming and other uses of the mountain

resources which are occurring presently as well as in the past. The rest of the route is steep and

winding as you descend rather quickly into the city of Payson.

This map is from the Juan travel council.

References

Chronic, Halka, 1990, Roadside Geology of Utah, Mountain Press Publishing Company, 230

Karras, Christy, 2011, Scenic Driving Utah, Morris Book Publishing, 142-146

Milligan, Mark, 2011, Devils Kitchen Juab County Utah, Survey Notes Utah Geologic Survey,

Geosights Article, vol. 43 no. 1

Summitpost.org, 2007, Mount Nebo

Map from juabtravel.com