Mummy Mountain East Face - 8/19/14

Rocks and Cracks below Mummy Mountain Summit on the East Face

View up the East Face of Mummy Mountain from Mummy's Knee

 It was definitely a Super Tuesday hike this week as club members tackled another brand new hike for the club. With guidance from Jim Boone's website "Bird and Hike," six hearty men ventured up Mummy Mountain's east face to reach the summit from the opposite side. Until now, the club had only summited from the west side on the traditional route up Trail Canyon and North Loop junctioning at THE SCREE FIELD! Today, they exchanged the famed scree field for rocks and cracks and ledges. (Sounds a lot more fun to me!)

They drove up Deer Creek Road and parked at the turnout across from Wild Horse Canyon and Cougar Ridge Trail, a dirt road leading to cabins and summer homes.

Climbing Up to the Deer Creek Ridge

 On the way up the dirt road, they spied a large mule deer buck. Ten points! Jerry led the group up the mountain and sent some photos and the GPS track. Along with Laszlo's photos, Jerry takes the story from here.

Six intrepid hikers showed up for the author's first hike as coordinator.  Half of the hike was to be exploratory as no one had been to Mummy's knee or beyond on this side of the mountain. 

The Steep Ascent to Mummy's Knee

 We began hiking up Cougar Ridge Road and spotted a mule deer buck with a large rack just above the road on the hillside. 

Mummy's Toe from Mummy's Knee

 The troop followed the familiar route up Cougar Ridge Road to the cabins and then Deer Creek wash up to the ridge above Deer Creek and onto the newly named "Barbell Curve" where the ridge meets Mummy Springs trail. We took a rest stop here and then continued up the switchbacks until we reached the junction of Mummy's Toe trail and trails to Mummy's Knee.

Traverse

  From this point on the hike was entirely exploratory.  We actually found a well used trail that led straight up to Mummy's Knee. From the knee we traversed across various parts of the Mummy's anatomy. We passed a large scree-filled gully and continued to the next slightly smaller scree-filled gully. Here we ascended until we encountered a series of ledges leading along the summit to the north.  We followed a ledge just below the cliffs and went up a small pinch point until we were just below the summit cliffs on the east side of the mountain.  We walked along the wide ledge here and then scrambled up another short scree slope to the summit. 

Ah! There's the Crack!

  The author was relieved that his first hike was so far without incident.

Paul gets a little help from his friends.

 The photo to the left is a shot of the final small scramble to the summit. The GPS track sent to the website indicates that finding their way up and through the rocks, cracks and ledges below this point was no easy task. Dealing with extremely steep terrain at the top of scree fields and sharp limestone crags, the group of six finally made it to the top. Some of the 7.5 mile distance indicated was exploratory as they searched around for the right routes through the rocks.

Statistics indicated by the GPS track are as follows:
7.5 miles; 3500 feet elevation gain; 6 hours

Jerry's story continues below.

Gnarly, man! Right on! How groovy can it get? Neato!

 On the descent we had one wayward hiker who wanted to stay high while the trail went a little lower.  Well, after being cliffed-out the hiker shortly returned to the trail and we continued on down.  The hike ended without further incident.  As it turned out there were cairned trails almost the entire way to the summit.  You had to know the way up the scree-filled gullies otherwise the hike was always on a trail.  It was great weather, a little windy on the summit but not bad.

~ Jerry

Use everything you have, guys!

Descent back to Deer Creek