Up the Creek - 7/19/22

Upper Fletcher Canyon Creek and Mummy Mountain

Water and Columbines in Upper Fletcher Canyon Creek

Root Frame

On Trail Canyon Saddle

Four Fearsome Hikers climbed up Trail Canyon to experience one of the most beautiful half miles of scrambling that the Spring Mountains NRA has to offer. What's the catch? Well, you have to climb Trail Canyon first! We arrived at the Trail Canyon Saddle around 8:15am. We had passed a family with a Weimaraner and a Bulldog. They were all having a great outing on the trail! A stronger hiker passed us saying that the rain from the day before had destroyed the South Loop Trail so he had come back down to climb Trail Canyon. I'm sure the trail maintenance workers will get right on that! After a rest at the saddle, we ventured down the North Loop for less than a tenth of a mile and found a small trail junction to the right. (Look for small rocks!)

Starting down to the Big Boulder Landmark

Small Trail and Landscape to Big Boulder

Big Boulder Landmark

Four Fearsome Hikers at the Big Boulder Landmark

Water flowing in the Creek

The aforementioned rain had obliterated a lot of this trail near the North Loop but we enjoyed the softer dirt that was leftover on the steep hillside. The trail returned a little lower down and we chose one of the ridges falling off to the right to continue our descent down to the Big Boulder Landmark. Following the path of least resistance, we found an old trail that I have used before and found the huge boulder rising before us. It is unmistakably a large boulder lying in the middle of a pine glade above Fletcher Creek, aka the Upper Fletcher Canyon Wash. When you come upon the Big Boulder Landmark, you have arrived at the top of Fletcher Canyon per se. Drop to the creek bed and turn to the right by ducking under a fallen tree to find the trail that leads all the way down through the rabbit hole and out to the Fletcher Canyon Trailhead. This is also a beautiful hike! However, for this hike, we dropped to the creek where some water was flowing and turned to the left. By staying in the creek bed, we climbed up through some shallow water and columbines being careful of the probable slipperiness. Several photos were taken here, including the second photo of this entry. The water went underground and we continued to scramble up the rocks.

Pinnacles above Fletcher Creek

Mark, Charlie and Ralyn climb Fletcher Creek

Harris Peak view down the Creek

Taking a Break in the Creek

Dragon

It is a good scramble with views of the creek bed and Mummy Mountain above. It was there to enjoy! Although there are side trails occasionally, we mostly stayed in the dry creek where we also took our snack break. By the time we junctioned with the North Loop, we had had a good amount of climbing rocks. A left turn on the North Loop brought us back to Trail Canyon Saddle where we met up with a few other hikers of the AtBF club. Next, we descended Trail Canyon easily before any threat of rain or heat came upon us. Very enjoyable morning!

Stats: 5.2 miles; 2025' gain; 3.5 hours

Mummy's Knee above Fletcher Creek

Junction with North Loop Trail

Trail Canyon Descent