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Twenty-Five TrailBlazers headed out for Mt. Nebo on scenic Highway 22 but we did not yet see fall foliage.  We did manage to find a shortcut that cut off some mileage but alas we never did see First Free Will Baptist Church mentioned in our instructions!  However, some of us did see it on the way back because we missed the shortcut back!

 

Upon our arrival, our Nebo Dude, Gene, was awaiting us in the parking lot to start the hike on the Rim Trail.  We did a little bit of cheating by walking along the road to Sunrise Point instead of hiking the trail.  It was a good idea because we knew it was going to be a hot day!

 

We took our de rigueur group photo there and then headed down the rocky trail that had some daisies, phlox and beauty berry in bloom.  As we trekked along there were some steep steps, at least for the vertically challenged like Yours Truly, and beautiful outcroppings of rock.  Unfortunately, Tom, who is definitely not vertically challenged, managed to bean his head on one of these but he survived to hike another day!

 

As we continued, Steve called out that there was a rattle snake ahead hanging from a rock.  There sure was; it was Buffalo Bob hiding behind a huge boulder doing his best to make a hissing sound as we passed by!  Obviously these guys were in cahoots!  Mind you, these are grown men!  I can’t believe that we once again fell for Bob’s shenanigans since he has pulled stunts like this before.  It will be even worse now that he has a co-conspirator!

 

Next Gene showed us a valley where there had been a bad fire in 1980.  It was very dry in the park today and there was even a sign that there was a fire ban.  They are even going to cut some trees down just to prevent future fires.  The next thing on the trail was the foundation of a lodge built by the CCC but never completed.  Stephen is a mountain goat at heart so he obliged me by climbing over the wall and peeking out through a window opening for a photo op!

 

Finally we reached Sunset Point with its beautiful view of Lake Dardenelle.  Yours Truly was careful to leave Nuclear One out of the pic as she does not consider it “scenic!”  This was our lunch spot where everyone was happy to sit down and eat in the shade where possible and enjoy the view. Continuing on, we made a stop at the Visitors Center and then the fun began.  There is a series of up and down rocky staircases built by the CCC.  Hiking here requires that we watch our step to avoid a fall.  Finally in the fullness of time we arrived back at the parking lot. 

 

Gene has a neat cottage on Sunrise Drive where he invited us to have root beer floats.  What a great day for this since we were pretty hot by the end of the hike!  Thank you, Gene, for leading our hike and serving us sorely needed refreshments.

Sign up on our website if you want to join us for the Hare Mountain hike next Sat.

 

Pics are below.  Click on any pic to enlarge and then click on arrows at the right to create a slide show.

 

{gallery}2017-10-14-MtNebo{/gallery}