Pump House Loop - 8/9/25

Old Mill Pump House

Pump house ridge corner with view of South Sister

Old house foundation with rebar in the Cement

Meadow area on Pump House Ridge

Starting up Old Mill Trail

So, of course, the Old Mill located up the hill from the Old Mill Picnic Area on Lee Canyon Road needed a pump house! We received word that we have missed this pump house on any of our hikes. This hike went looking for it! A "pump house" is a structure that typically houses water pumps and related equipment, often in the context of water management systems. It can also refer to a building that contains the pumping equipment for irrigation or other industrial applications. Well pump houses are common on properties with wells, protecting the well pump and related equipment like pressure tanks and control switches from the elements, especially freezing. 

~ AI Overview 

Fork (Old Mill to left & South Sister to right)

Climbing gentle ridge to pump House

Three Lady Hikers parked at the Pay Phone Trailhead on Lee Canyon Road at the traffic circle and started walking up past the Old Mill Picnic Area on its asphalt road. We took the fork to the right up onto the Old Mill Trail, a gravelly trail that is bordered by lines of rocks.

Old road to pump House

The Old Mill pump House

Three Lady Hikers at pump House

We soon came to another fork. The Old Mill Trail continues up to the left and the South Sister Trail veers to the right. In the middle of the two trails at the fork, there is a gentle ridge rising in a short distance. This is the beginning of Pump House Ridge. We crossed the washed out gulley and started up the ridge. We found that we were climbing on an old old road that was barely there anymore. The short road led up to a flattish place on the ridge and, lo and behold, there it was; a structure that we never knew was there! Looking inside kind of gave me the creeps. Its hole was dug below ground. The size of the square hole was about 8'x8'. And, there was a pipe coming through the foundation about 3'. Immediately, we all thought ... pump house! I guess we're showing our age or origins (one of the two!). We walked around the small structure built into the side of the hill and took photos. We also noticed a trail leading down the side of the hill toward the South Sister Trail that ended in the old spring cistern area.

Scenes of pump house from all Sides

Climbing Pump House Ridge with use of lateral horse Trails

Leaving these old trails to explore on the return trip, we started up the steep, newly named, Pump House Ridge. Hoping the old road continued, we climbed it for about 100' until it disappeared. Oh, well.

So, where exactly are we?

Mummy Mountain from Pump House Ridge

Lee Peak in Distance

The gentle part of the ridge quickly relinquished into very steep terrain. At this point, a horse trail took over the road moving laterally across the scree. (It was barely a trail! But, you could make it out.) When the horse trail disappeared, we switchbacked up to the left. A couple more switchbacks using other horse trails and we were seeing beautiful views of Charleston's north loop ridge. On the ridge above us, we saw a rock outcrop rising about 10' in our path. We chose to go around this obstacle on its right side. This ended up being a "corner" of the ridge. We continued, in a lateral way, to climb up the ridge that was now curving to the left. When we started out, we didn't know where our day would take us!

Some steep Stuff

Working our way to the right of an Outcrop

There was a lot of steepness between us and the South Sister Trail at this point so we decided to continue the curve up to the main Bonanza Trail Ridge. The Spring Mountain Divide rose very high up the ridge on which we balanced ... the Pump House Ridge.

Mummy Mountain and Lower Bristlecone Trail from Pump House Ridge

Water break on the steep Ridge

More Climbing

When we ended up on a horse trail running laterally along near the top of the ridge, we tried to use this for most of the climb. This kept us off the messy ridge line and provided a good trail to follow. Animals always know the best ways! The ridge, itself, undulated a bit. At one point, we found a meadow filled with yellow flowers, we travelled through a small gentle dip and there was a lot of deadfall along the way. When we couldn't use the horse trails any longer, we moved up to the ridge spine. The climb became steeper as we neared the Bonanza Trail. We ended up stopping for our break just below the the ridge summit. Veering to the right after the break, we waltzed onto the Bonanza Trail near the campsite that is just below the high point of the South Sister Saddle Loop hike. Yes, I waltz, too.

Meadow area on Pump House Ridge  -  I'm looking, Susan!

Lateral horse trail nearing main ridge Above

Turning right on the Bonanza Trail, we hiked through one of the most beautiful parts of this 15 mile trail. Soon after, we came to the South Sister Saddle Ridge junction and turned right. A trail took us down the initial steep hill in several small switchbacks.

A break with Charleston Peak in View

Finally connecting with the Bonanza Trail 

The Bonanza Trail

This trail began many years ago as a suggestion! Soon after, one of our club members made the South Sister Saddle Loop v Pine Cone Canyon famous, the trail became better and better. Now, the trail is good and easy to follow. No longer do we need to follow cairns that kept getting knocked down. The three of us hiked down the hill, past the usual break spot, through the flower-filled meadow and over the small hill at the end of the ridge. The final drop put us right on the South Sister Saddle. We didn't stop on the saddle for long ... just long enough to share a few jokes about the pile of horse apples that is always there! Next, we started down the South Sister Trail. We had done this steep hill a few weeks ago and the recently maintained trail was too slippery. On this hike, the rocks have returned to their appropriate place and the descent was much easier. No falls. Down we went on the very familiar trail until we reached the spring cistern area. There were just a couple more trails we needed to check out.

Descending on the familiar South Sister Saddle Ridge

Nice trail on South Sister Saddle Ridge

On the other side of the gulley, another trail led diagonally up the hill toward the pump house area. Almost immediately, we face a very large deadfall tree. It isn't fun, but you can circumvent this tree on the left end. We deftly performed this maneuver and followed the remaining part of the trail up to the pump house area. We came down the ridge toward it after reaching the meadow above it.

Climbing the last little hill of the Hike

Diving down the South Sister Trail

Taking the old spring trail up past the spring Cistern

Now, we wanted to check out the other trail right next to the cabin that headed down to the South Sister Trail and spring cistern area. Another large tree blocked the way but it was much easier to climb over. All that was left was to pay a visit to the house foundation. Supposedly, this was the mill boss's house where he and his family lived. Finished with the exploring, we returned down to the "fork" and down to the Old Mill Picnic Area. The place was hopping! What another great day of exploring in the Spring Mountains NRA! 

Stats: 5 miles; 1600' gain; 5 hours

Arriving again at the pump House

Taking a different trail down to the spring Area

Susan crosses the gulley at the buried trash Can

A visit to the house Foundation

Black & White Loop v Elk Ridge Descent (in some wildfire smoke) - 8/4/25

North Sister from the ascent Ridge

Sisters Ridge

B&W of Black Sister on a smokey Day

Starting up Elk Ridge from Break Saddle

Starting up Galium Road from Chain-Up TH

This is a hike I've been wanting to do for a couple of years. As with other new hikes, I spent a little time scoping out the route from afar and on Google Earth. Last year, I found a cool trail to complete the fun! More on that later! There are also two other routes within this hike that were brand new to us. My thoughts on these routes will be revealed in the text below. But, for now, we should welcome the Galium Ridge and the Elk Ridge to our fold. (Galium aparine is a distinctive herbaceous annual weed with a number of common names including, cleavers, bedstraw, catchweed bedstraw, grip grass, stickywilly, and others. And, all this time, I thought they were talking about gallium, the soft metal, and not about galium, the plant!) Oops. Live and learn.

Galium Spring Area

Susan leads up ridge above Galium Spring

Susan and I parked in the middle of the Chain-Up Trailhead on Lee Canyon Road and started hiking up to the top end of the large turnout. Galium Road leads around the corner and into a canyon. The wash in this canyon was gutted by Hilary but the trail continues alongside up to where Galium Spring spills lightly out from the right.

Rock outcrop on ridge Summit

Mountain Mahogany on first Ridge

Susan haloed by the Smoke

 This is a popular wildlife watering hole and the wilderness experts have the water draining into a pvc pipe poked with tiny holes. The water jets out through these holes to allow animals to better slake their thirst. Good idea. So, usually, we continue up the small canyon and connect with a ridge to climb up to Galium Ridge. This time, we climbed up to the top of the spring area to a saddle in the ridge above looking for a horse trail that would lead us further up to the left. We did find a trail of sorts and reached the ridge point at a rock outcrop. A left got us through the rock and onto the ridge that continued by curving around to the right. It didn't have much foliage and descended a little to a saddle.

First ridge with directional Cairn (North Sister ahead)

Nearing the junction Saddle

At this saddle, someone had built a cairn with a stick in it. The stick pointed in the obvious direction along the ridge to the right of the rise. To the right of the trail, the hill fell steeply down in a bowl of scree.

Starting up from the Junction Saddle

Mummy Mountain in wildfire Smoke

View down off the first ridge to the Left

The trail clearly led us to the next bare saddle where I recognized my former trail coming up to junction with us from the left. At this time, I could compare the two routes. Although the new route was fun, it did not make our hike to that point any shorter. Even the elevation gain was similar. So, we melded into the regular trailed route as it began climbing a little steeper up the ridge toward the Sisters Ridge. North Sister was, and had been, clearly seen ahead to the left. South Sister rose to its left. The trail(s) led up through the mountain mahogany growth while balancing the narrowing ridge. When the trees thinned slightly, we were nearing the first large geological sculpture ... the Sisters Arch. Stay on the right side of the ridge to see this.

Arriving at the Sisters Arch

Black Sister from fork Area

Beyond the arch, you can see Black & White Sisters sitting majestically on the end of the Sisters Ridge in the near distance. We took several photos and tried to use the smokey haze for the results. That's why I presented the black and white photo near the top of this entry.

Traverse from above Arch to Sisters Ridge

View from Traverse Trail

Climbing Sisters Ridge to White Sister

(The smoke was moving northward so we were breathing just fine. This was not the case when we started and I used a buff to cover my nose and mouth.) Not too far up past the arch viewing area, a trail forks off to the right. This is the small but exciting part that I discovered last year. The trail traverses above the scree bowl to the right until it reaches the Sisters Ridge. It cuts off a considerable climb and descent that we usually made before. (Thanks to whoever made this trail!) Susan and I pranced around the scree bowl and arrived at the Sisters Ridge happy! (Yes, I prance.) The second photo of this entry shows what the main ridge looked like behind us. The photo to the right shows what the ridge looked like in front of us heading toward White Sister. We took more photos as we paused on White Sister and hiked around behind Black Sister. We took a break on a shaded log on the ridge down from the black rock and continued down the regular steep descent that began at the endpoint of this ridge. A good trail finally helps with the descent here to a saddle between the bottom of the main descent and the beginning of another ridge. Enter: Elk Ridge! The wash below Elk Ridge to the left is what I call Elks Club Wash because there was so much elk evidence when I first did that wash.

Kay says, "White Sister ahead!"

Susan and Kay on White Sister in front of Black Sister (or, Black Rock)

Well, this ridge that we were about to playfully descend also had a lot of old elk evidence. In fact, there was a vague trail that we followed up and all the way down, albeit not in a straight line! Sometimes, I felt we were following an animal and sometimes, I knew we were following a happenstance hiker of old. (Like, for instance, when we found three different very old trail marker white ribbons rotting on trees.)

Southeast Point of Black Sister

North Sister from Black Sister Ridge

Susan on Black Sister Ridge

We are learning a lot about tracking, I think. The trail only allowed for slight indications of someone who had come before. What helped the most was that the trail always took the most logical route. There were a few times, though, that we found more than one route and we had to explore a little to discover good ways. Mountain mahoganies were everywhere! I think I brought home a whole branch of blooms in my shirt because of bending through the branches of these trees that naturally spread out over the years. It was a full body workout! I knew there was a home on the hillside to the right and I didn't want to cause attention to them in case they felt it was a problem so we kept having to work our way over to the left toward Elks Club Wash. Finally, just as we had looked over our shoulder and saw the house, we made a beeline down the hill to connect with Nutans Road, Ada & Edith's small mining road. Susan knew where she was and continued straight to descend into the wash. I decided to take a left on Nutans Road and descend into the wash at the regular point near where the road and wash crossed. I met up with Susan on down the wash and we hiked down to Lee Canyon Road.

Kay starting up Elk Ridge

Wide angle from Elk Ridge(L) High Point

Our plan was to hike up the Lee Canyon Wash to the Chain-Up Trailhead but we were tired by this time and ended up hiking up the road a little bit until it was easier to dip into the wide wash on our left. 

Scenes from first part of descent on Elk Ridge

Scenes from 2nd part of descent on Elk Ridge

Susan takes a rest while Kay takes Photos

Climbing over a few trees later, we made it to the easiest place to exit the wash and cross Lee Canyon Road to reach our car. Wow! What a hike! And, can you believe it was only 4 miles! But, at our leisurely pace, it took us 6 hours to accomplish. On any pure exploratory, time is ignored. It's usually an experience that cannot be replaced!

Stats: 4 miles; 1800' gain; 6.25 hours

Junction with Nutans Road at bottom of Elk Ridge

Using Elks Club Wash for descent to Lee Canyon Road

Lee Canyon Wash tree Puzzle

A different species of Desert Paintbrush