NEBO LOOP ROAD
Laurie Healey
August 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