Nine nifty hikers came out for the Mummy Springs Loop hike, a tough little five miler that travels to the springs near the base of the cliffs of Mummy's Toe. Parking the cars at the North Loop trailhead, we turned to begin our hike by heading down Deer Creek Hwy to the northwest. Soon we came upon a dirt road leading up beside Deer Creek and to the summer cabins above.
We continued hiking straight up beside the creek at the point where the dirt road took a sharp turn away from the creek to the right. There is a reasonably clear trail here that goes up through the wash and takes a diagonal turn to the right up a steep section of Mummy Mountain and junctions with the new Mummy's Toe Trail. This portion of the hike is the old route used to get up to Mummy's Toe. Now, the North Loop is the preferred route.
This steep section of the loop hike provides a couple of nice views. One is of Mummy's Toe above. The other view, as seen in the photo to the left, is of the desert floor through Deer Creek Canyon. The terrain, here, is rocky with interesting trees of many shapes all around. We finally arrived at the new Mummy's Toe trail and turned left. Shortly, we found ourselves at Mummy Springs where another hiker who had arrived before us sat in reverie.
We climbed up to the springs which were running lightly down on the bunches of columbine and moss; took our photos and spoke to the other hiker for a moment. Then we continued on our way up to Raintree where we took our break and had our snack. The weather was warm but there was a nice cool breeze at Raintree coming up from the Kyle Canyon side of the ridge.
After the break, we began hiking on the North Loop Trail and would take this trail down to the finish. Throughout the pleasant hike, we stayed together as a group and took several small breaks. Still, we finished the hike in just a little over three hours, ... not bad for a 1650 foot climb in elevation.
The writer is happy to be back on the trails albeit a little out of condition. Every day is a good day on the trails!
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