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| Thunderstorms coming over Mummy Mountain |
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| Charleston Peak from the High Point |
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| Rain Washed Echo Trailhead |
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| Cathedral Rock from Echo Trail |
After a week of waiting for the monsoon weather to settle down a little, the club had three hikes going on today. All well attended, I'm sure. The moderate hike had ten hikers who started out from the Echo Trailhead in Kyle Canyon. The chance of rain and thunderstorms was 40% all day. Our window of time for an enjoyable hike was small so I was a little over-enthusiastic with the pace to start up the Echo Trail! Please accept my apologies. We soon slowed down when we hit the second big hill on the Cathedral Rock Trail.
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| Pausing at top of First Hill |
The scenery appeared almost "lush" after a week of constant rain showers. The air was clean and fresh. Even more fresh than usual in the mountains.
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| Junction with Little Falls Trail |
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| Sunny South Loop with Thunderstorms Coming |
The sky over the Spring Mountains had two large cumulus clouds as we drove up. There were spots of blue still in the skies as we started our hike. The first dark clouds appeared rather suddenly over Mummy Mountain across Kyle Canyon from where we hiked. We were just getting to the South Loop Trailhead area. Ahead of us, there was blue sky with light fluffy clouds. Which way was that dark stuff floating? Onward, we hiked up the South Loop enjoying the exertion that we had missed. There were a few other hikers on the trail that were enjoying the scenery as well.
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| Mummy Mountain covered in Clouds |
We made the first wash crossing and noted that repair work was still in tact. It did not appear that any heavy rains had destroyed any part of the lower South Loop.
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| South Loop Trail through small Aspens |
After the wash, we zigzagged a little up to the Rainbow Junction. Before the fire of 2013, this junction was used on a very popular hike called Rainbow Loop.
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| Climbing Abandoned Road to High Point |
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| Abandoned Road, like an Old Friend |
Here, we turned left onto an old abandoned road. We crossed over and under a few fallen trees and climbed the hill. Down, over to the left side and through the branches and brush, we saw a large buck mule deer. At the top of the hill, I pointed out the place where the small wooded trail used to descend down to Rainbow. The low ridge to the left is where we have taken many a break. Looking forward to enjoying the old break spot and unique views, we started to find a seat. Suddenly, rumble rumble rumble! The thunder was pretty far away but ... it was THUNDER!
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| Cockscomb Ridge bathed in Sunlight |
Our plan from the beginning of the hike was, if we hear thunder, we would immediately turn around and go back to the cars. So, that's what we did!
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| Charleston Peak from High Point |
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| Crossing the Wash on South Loop Trail |
On the way down, we heard another rumble from the same distance. Dark clouds had suddenly appeared over the South Loop's 1st Overlook. (That's how it happens ... "suddenly.") Then it started sprinkling heavy drops. For a while we heard nothing and we slowed our pace. Then, RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE, again. And, twice more. Really loud! Luckily, we were almost back to the cars and it had not started raining on us more than sprinkles. We saw rain showers over the Raintree vicinity. (Apropos.) And, looking back, we saw rain showers over our break area that we had abandoned. It was a good call to start back. In the end, we were all exhilarated from the morning. (And, I got these great photos!)
4 miles; 1050 feet elevation gain; 2.25 hours
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| Yellow Flowers and Rainstorm at Raintree |
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| Descending South Loop in Big Sprinkles |
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| Raining over Harris Peak (Foreground ridge is where we were.) |
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