We just returned from an adventure in the Mt. Moriah Wilderness of Nevada. It's not the kind of trip we do very often; in fact we haven't tent camped in years.....now we know why! However, camping was necessary due to the remoteness of the
Mt. Moriah Trailhead. We traveled over two hours on 23 miles of dirt roads and never saw another vehicle. The scenery along the way was different in every direction; it's was fun to come upon a spring & guard station. We set up camp and explored the area in the evening. The wind kicked up during the night, so we got very little sleep. After a hot breakfast we set out to climb
Mt. Moriah. It was tough, I knew it would be after my first glimpse of the mountain peak; after all, it is the highest in the North Snake Range and 5th highest in all of Nevada. The fierce winds didn't stop us from reaching the top; we were definitely challenged beyond our normal strength. Awesome views from the top made it all worthwhile, another once in a lifetime hike.
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| Starting up the 11.4 miles of dirt road to the trailhead |
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| View of the valley below and the Schell Creek Range |
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| Our first glimpse of Mt. Moriah |
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| Nice grassy meadows along the way |
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| Dog Spring Guard Station is over 80 years old |
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| Dog Spring was flowing with clear cold water |
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| This is where we will start hiking in the morning |
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| The sign shows there isn't an actual trail for Mt. Moriah |
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| Old Basque sheepherder carvings |
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| The closest lodging we could find |
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| Okay it's not the Hampton Inn, but it'll have to do |
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| Thursday evening we took a walk down the Big Canyon Trail |
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| This would be gorgeous in the Fall |
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| Evening sunset |
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| The wind blew all night, the tent did a flip just after we crawled out of our sleeping bags |
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| I decided to cook breakfast in the tent and out of the wind |
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| Heading out on the Mt. Moriah Trail.....3 miles, oh boy! |
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| A tagged Bristlecone Pine |
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| We still have a long ways to go |
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| A strange trail marker |
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| Corral in the middle of nowhere |
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| A lone Bristlecone shows how windy it can be here |
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| Up above the treeline, it's about to get hard |
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| At least we had lots of pretty low growing flowers to look at along the way |
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| Great views along the way, too |
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| A nice and necessary windbreak on the top |
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| We made it! 2,200 ft. elevation gain. Mt. Moriah is 12,067 ft. |
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| Kent gives this hike 2 thumbs up, meaning it really challenged us |
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| We signed the Summit Register, we are the third party to sign this year |
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| Awesome views in every direction |
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| Kent is looking towards The Moriah Table.....a hike for another day! |
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| See we really did make it! 3 hours up.....not bad for us! |
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Hiking back down was easier than we thought it would be
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| Aerial view of our ascent of Mt. Moriah |
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