The seasons have officially changed! Time to move from hiking desert landscape and get back up to the mountain tops. With temperatures predicted to hit 108° in the St. George area, we decided to look for someplace cool that was close to home. Although we had hiked
Andy Nelson Peak five years ago, we had never "officially" made it to the top of Navajo Peak . . . and when we found that it had a benchmark, our decision as to where we were going was made.
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We began our hike on the Lodge Trail . . . it's located across from the Navajo Lake Lodge
(You can use their long-term parking so you don't have to park on the road) |
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| The trail climbs quickly, providing nice views of Navajo Lake |
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We met a couple of mountain bikers doing volunteer trail maintenance . . .
They were using an electric chainsaw to remove the deadfall on the trail . . .
Looks like we got here too soon . . . should have been 15 minutes later! |
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| Bluebells were in bloom |
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When we reached the saddle that separates Navajo Peak from Andy Nelson Peak,
we were welcomed by very nice views of Zion off to the south |
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| Phlox covered the ground on the saddle |
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Most people use the saddle for their "springboard" to ascend Navajo Peak, but after reading several comments about the deadfall, we decided to continue east along the trail and come up the backside . . .
This made the hike a little longer (maybe an additional mile), but was relatively painless! |
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| Within minutes of leaving the trail we were up on top walking a ridge to the benchmark |
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| Navajo Lake Benchmark (1938) was easy to locate . . . as were the two reference markers |
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We were the first to sign the summit register this year!
(We found a log book inside a cooler jug . . . not a bad idea) |
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Our friend Tom beat us by 5 years and 364 days!
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On top of Navajo Peak (9965 ft)
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Deep in thought . . . We have a dilemma . . .
Do we go after the azimuth mark on Andy Nelson Peak? (The peak beyond Kent)
All we have to go on, from the NGS description, is that it is located on the SE face of Andy Nelson Peak
in a small opening between two dead trees!
Tom couldn't find it and we've already hiked it once before . . . what to do?? |
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The decision is made . . . we're going for it!
We are headed down through the deadfall we bypassed on on our way up Navajo Peak . . . .
Looks like it was a good call on our part to go the extra mile! |
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It was a little easier going up Andy Nelson Peak . . . with less deadfall . . . but still very steep!
(This is looking back towards the saddle that separates the two peaks) |
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Standing on top of Andy Nelson Peak (10,027 ft)
Kent rethinks the exact location of the azimuth . . .
It's location is supposed to be 313° from Navajo Benchmark on the SE side of this Peak |
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| Still looking . . . |
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After searching for about 45 minutes, looking for 'the two dead trees,' we called it a day!
(Needless to say, there were way more than two dead trees!) |
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On the way back, we left the trail near the saddle, and cut through a meadow towards a draw,
so as to shorten the distance to the car |
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| Obviously, we aren't the first ones to do this . . . we followed a trail of orange ribbons |
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| Back to the parking area |
What a great way to spend a Saturday! We ended up hiking 6.2 miles and gained about 1400 ft of total elevation . . . not too shabby! If you're interested in doing this hike, you can click
here for a topo map and GPS tracks from Candace Skalet's Peakbagger.com post. We met Candace several years ago when hiking
Moapa Peak with Tom. Thanks, Candace, for your post!
