August 2010 found us again camping with Jacob, our nephew, this year at Balch Park northeast of Springville in Mountain Home Demonstration State Forest. We had decided our first full day in camp would be spent climbing Moses Mountain, a 9,331′ peak a few miles northeast of Balch Park. We expected to follow the Summit Lake trail northward from Shake Camp for 3-4 miles, then head cross-country west up Moses’ steep eastern face, angling southwest at some point to scramble up some prominent chutes to the summit. In all, the hike figured to be about 10 miles in total, and that estimate was at least 2-3 miles short of actual, given the route we chose. Following the trail north, we arrived at Redwood Crossing after two miles, a beautiful spot where we decided to eat lunch. There we crossed the Middle Fork of the Tule River, continuing to follow the trail north along the river’s east bank. After two more miles, we re-crossed the river to the west side and began looking for our cue to leave the trail and start heading up the mountain. This we did about a half mile later and immediately began to tire – the hillside was very steep, and the bushwhacking was tedious as we made our way higher up. At about the 8,000′ level, we realized we were still more than a mile north and 1,300′ short of the summit, and, it being already 3:30pm with afternoon storm clouds rolling in, we reluctantly concluded that we should abandon our attempt to reach the top. We headed down by a more southeasterly route, regaining the trail where we re-crossed the river. Tired and filthy, we reached the trailhead about 6pm after covering just over 10 miles. It was a long and disappointing day, but we enjoyed it in the end – we’ll have our revenge on Moses Mountain one day soon.