This adventure is a brief extension of the Mummy Mountain NNE adventure. Each adventure has a different focus. Mummy Mountain NNE focused on streamlining the wilderness route from Mummy Springs to the NNE area at the base of the Mummy Mountain Eastern cliffs. On the other hand, this adventure moves to the very edge of the NNE area where the only way forward is a pretty dramatic descent either to the Lee Canyon area or to potential routes allowing re-ascent of the Mummy Mountain Northern cliff area just below Mummy’s Chin – more accurately, Mummy’s neck. The larger wilderness overlook is more apparent in the video on this page than the slide show.
In addition, this adventure also documents some of the amazing ancient Bristlecone Pine trees in the largely untouched Mummy Mountain Northern area. These can be see in the Slide Guide on this page.
Begin at the North Loop Trailhead on Highway 158 Deer Creek Road between Kyle Canyon and Lee Canyon. To get to this point from Las Vegas head North on Hwy-95 taking a left at one of the last Hwy-95 exits in the Las Vegas area, Kyle Canyon exit. Continue up Kyle Canyon Road about 17 miles and a couple miles before Charleston Village take a right on Highway 158 toward Lee Canyon. You’ll wind around the hillside to the left and as the road briefly levels off before descending toward Lee Canyon, the North Loop Trailhead will appear on the left. During the Summer months you may want to get there before 8am as the parking fills up pretty fast. Looking back toward Las Vegas, there’s a good view of La Madre Mountain from the trailhead parking lot.
From the North Loop Trailhead proceed up the North Loop Trail passing the first plateau, the initial summit overlook where Kyle Canyon first comes into view, passing the Fletcher Peak cutoff trail, descending to Raintree and then taking a right to Mummy Springs. At the first switchback after Mummy Springs enter the wilderness and traverse 3 ridges and 3 wash canyons. I’ve named them: 1st Canyon, Cascade Canyon (due to the huge dry waterfall cliff there) and Delta Canyon (aka – The Fingers – has 3 washes shaped like an upside-down river delta). The Mummy Mountain NNE page and video more fully document the wilderness route between Mummy Springs and Delta Canyon.
The video on this page begins in Delta Canyon. Ascend the ridge at the far side of Delta Canyon. On this day I traversed this ridge at a lower elevation rather than angling up more rapidly to the Mummy Mountain Northeastern cliff area. There appeared to be a very faint ancient trail traversing the ridge at this elevation, but that is not certain. At any rate, the wilderness and the Bristlecone Pine forest here are almost entirely untouched and full of wonder. After a bit I began to slightly angle upward until I arrived at the very tip of the Mummy Mountain Northeastern cliff – actually a narrow ridge just East and below the true Eastern Cliffs. This is where the Northern wilderness of Mummy Mountain comes into view for the first time. There is a huge descent and re-ascent in order to potentially summit Mummy Mountain from this location.
So, I traveled a bit further along the ridge which appeared to descend toward Lee Canyon. There was a faint modern trail in this area that looked as if it started in Lee Canyon and ended at this point. I’ll check that out some day from Lee Canyon. The approach to this point from Lee Canyon would be much shorter, but from the looks of things, may involve some unpaved roads lower in the canyon. The ridge eventually became topped with a beautiful 20ft rocky ridgeline, before taking a more rapid descent toward Lee Canyon.
Rather than descending into Lee Canyon I turned around and traced the ridge upward to its highest elevation. What a grand and unique view of the entire Eastern side of Mummy Mountain! You’ll see this in the Video Guide.
My next adventure will be to ascend Mummy Mountain’s Western approach and then trace the summit ridge to the furthest Northern point and look for a potential descent. If successful, this will open a route from Mummy Mountain’s summit to Mummy’s Chin, or alternately, to the termination point of today’s adventure where I might then traverse the wilderness to Mummy Springs and Raintree. If this works I will call this route The Grand Mummy Mountain Circuit.
