Overview – Mummy Mountain’s Nose from Deer Creek Rd | Mt. Charleston Wilderness, Nevada

This is the most streamlined approach to the prominent summit of Mummy Mountain’s Nose (10,751 ft. elevation) with its spectacular 360-degree view.

This adventure will get you to the cliffs at the base of Mummy’s Nose summit within less than a half-mile from the summit. The route ascends the beautiful Eastern approach ridge from the Deer Creek Catch Pen Loop Trailhead on Deer Creek Road.

All Mummy’s Nose Adventures on LasVegasAreaTrails.com

Try them out. Each one is a unique adventure with its own unique route!

• Mummy’s Nose Final Summit Approach from Deer Creek Road
• Mummy’s Nose Eastern Ridge from Deer Creek Road
• Mummy’s Nose North Alpine Loop from Deer Creek Road
• Mummy’s Nose Summit from Lee Canyon

Spectacular Mountaintop Views Most of the Way!

A forest road gives you a jump start up the initial gully from its intersection with Deer Creek Road. Then you ascend to an upper ridgeline with spectacular mountaintop views the rest of the way including:

• Mummy’s Nose
• Mummy Mountain’s Summit, Knees and Toes
• Fletcher Peak
• The La Madre Mountains
• Angel Peak
• Northern Las Vegas Valley
• Gass Peak
• The Sheep Range

And, this is just a short list of a huge surrounding scene impossible to list in detail! As you near the Mummy’s Nose base cliffs you’re in the midst of an ancient bristlecone pine forest dotted with limestone pillars. Then its time to weave up a beautiful limestone gully passage through the cliffs and on up to the summit of Mummy’s Nose.

Best Time of Year for This Adventure

Early Summer through mid-Fall before the first snow is the best time for this adventure. Escape the furnace heat of the Las Vegas Valley to find yourself in a comfortable mid-70s-mid-80s degree temperature! However, beware: Mid-Summer thunderstorms can suddenly and unexpectedly envelop the entire area with lightning and thunder, torrents of rain and pelting hailstones turning the ground as white as a mid-Winter snowfield. I know because this happened to me on my first adventure here during the second week of August!

Route Starting Point Directions – Mummy Mountain’s Nose from Deer Creek Rd | Mt. Charleston Wilderness, Nevada

To get to this point from Las Vegas head North on I-95 taking a left at one of the last I-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 towards Lee Canyon. You’ll wind around the hillside to the left and as the road briefly levels off before descending toward Lee Canyon. Pass the North Loop Trailhead, Deer Creek Picnic Area and the Camp Stimson turnoff. The trailhead is a small parking area on the right just before the Desert View Overlook Parking Area. It’s the trailhead parking for the Deer Creek Catch Pen Loop Trail. 

Narrative Guide – Mummy Mountain’s Nose from Deer Creek Rd | Mt. Charleston Wilderness, Nevada

Identify Your Large Reference Points

While there are roads, paths, gullies and ridgelines to help guide you between the trailhead and Mummy’s Nose, nothing is marked. Roads, paths, gullies and ridges divide multiple times in various directions. What looks like a path will disappear and reappear along the way. So, while these features can help guide and accelerate your navigation through the wilderness, don’t place your total trust in any of them!

Your best guide is the large surrounding reference points. The most important are these:

• Mummy’s Nose Cliffs (your guide during the approach). You can see Mummy’s Nose from the trailhead and during most of the approach.
• The Sheep Range (your guide during the return). You can see the Sheep Range when you need it most: While navigating the various upper descent ridges. It will guide you to the correct descent ridge.
• The Main Upper Ridge: This is a pretty easy ridge to follow on the approach. Just head toward Mummy’s Nose ahead.
• The Main Lower Gully and Its Surrounding Ridges: During the descent from above, you want to aim for the Sheep Range and the gully between the two lower ridges that empty out onto the Deer Creek Road trailhead.

Great Wilderness Navigation Practice Area

This is a great area to practice your wilderness navigational skills while being in a relatively safe place. What makes it safe?

Most of the approach ridges and gullies between Deer Creek Road and Mummy’s Nose cliffs are fairly tame and gradual, at least until you get near the base of the cliffs. And, all the gullies and ridgelines lead downward to Deer Creek Road. So if you happen to miss your starting point trailhead parking area, your biggest problem will be whether to turn right or left when you land on Deer Creek Road. Did you land above or below the trailhead? This is not a big problem because you’ll soon recognize some location on Deer Creek Road and realize which way you need to turn. And, you’re not lost, you’re on the main road!

One note of caution: Once you’re on the upper limestone cliffs it’s no longer an introductory wilderness navigation practice area. You can wander off course and into trouble in this terrain. The great introductory practice area is between Deer Creek Road and the base of the upper cliffs.

Route Summary

From the parking area, cross Deer Creek Road and head up the unpaved Forest Road 092A. This will give you a jump-start up the main lower approach gully. When the road ends, angle upward to the summit of the ridge to your left. Take that ridge all the way to the base of the Mummy’s Nose cliffs. Turn right and skirt the base of the cliffs until you reach a shallow limestone gully passage upward through the cliffs. At the summit of this passage take a left and continue along the upper cliff line to the summit of Mummy’s Nose.

Route Step-by-Step Breakdown

Deer Creek Road to the Approach Ridgeline

Once you cross Deer Creek Road and begin heading up Forest Road 092A, you’ll immediately notice a confusing number of roads branching off in numerous directions. It will help to notice you’re in a gully with a tall ridge to your right and to your left. Choose the road that stays closest to the ridge on your left. Also, keep in mind your reference point of the Mummy’s Nose cliffs. Aim for the left side of the cliffs ahead.

Soon the main road will become more clear as fewer roads are branching off to the right. Continue all the way to where the main road ends. Beyond that there will be a pathway, sometimes well defined, sometimes faint, sometimes missing! Continue along the pathway as long as it’s visible. However, sooner or later you’ll want to ascend the high ridgeline to your left. Perhaps the faint pathway will guide you up to the ridgeline. If you loose the trail, just angle upward to the ridgeline.

Approach Ridgeline to Mummy’s Nose Base Cliffs

When you reach the upper ridgeline, take a right and follow the ridgeline to the base of the Mummy’s Nose cliffs. Again, a ridgeline pathway will appear and disappear along the way. Just stay on the ridgeline and head toward the cliffs. Soon the ridgeline will reach the base of the cliffs.

Base of Mummy’s Nose Cliffs to the Gully Passage

As you reach the base of the cliffs, angle right and begin skirting the base of a large intervening limestone ridge. It’s soon becomes clear that the true cliff base is behind this limestone ridge. Circle around the edge of this ridge to begin the final steep ascent to the true base of the Mummy’s Nose cliffs. Study the cliffs above to identify a shallow limestone gully passage ascending upward through the cliffs. Note: I cannot vouch for the limestone passage because I turned around at this point recognizing gathering clouds and a darkening sky. I’ll return to check out the limestone gully passage as the continuance of the route to Mummy’s Nose summit.

Caught in a High Mountain Thunderstorm!

There were at first darkening clouds, the rumbling sound of thunder and a few light drops of rain. Having been in high mountain storms a few times, I recognized the weather condition could degenerate rapidly entirely transforming this mid-Summer climate into a mid-Winter climate. The thunder increased in volume, intensity and frequency. The few light drops of rain became a steady rain turning rapidly into pelting hailstones. Fortunately I had decided NOT to be on the limestone rocks and ledges above. I was heading downward on the ridgeline, able to use the Sheep Range and the lower gully and surrounding ridges as directional reference points. It was like heading toward a landing strip pointing to the trailhead on Deer Creek Road.

A number of alternate ridgelines presented themselves, wanting to lead me downward toward the Angel Peak reference point. Though descending in that direction seemed natural, I knew it would have landed me on Deer Creek Road about a mile above the trailhead. I kept course correcting toward the distant Sheep Range reference point.

Soon the ground was as white as a winter snowfield, though instead of snow it was covered with neat little balls of hail. Though the pelting hailstones were a bit uncomfortable, they were fortunately pea-sized and not the golf balls and base balls you hear of in the mid-Western U.S.!

The thunder was a bit unnerving. Though I could not see any lightning, there was always the thought of being struck by lightning at that high elevation during a thunderstorm. My thought was, avoid any electrical grounding. Keep the rubber soles of my shoes between me and the ground at all times. Do not seek cover leaning against a tree or rock. And keep moving vs. being a stationary target. This seemed like a reasonable mountain thunderstorm strategy. Curiously, the tips I later found at https://www.weather.gov/safety/lightning-tips basically agree with this common sense logic!

One nice discovery: A ground surface white with hailstones causes even the faintest pathways to come into clear definition! So, during the return descent I found a nice little pathway that took me from the ridgetop downward into the main gully and back to the upper end of Forest Road 029A! From there, it was just a matter of following the road back to the trailhead on Deer Creek Road.

Conclusion

One important item still to complete: The route up the limestone gully to Mummy’s Nose summit! I’ll return and add documentation of that route to this page.