Mummy Pass Trail

Most hikers park at Trailhead-1 and walk the rough half-mile spur to the locked gate at Trailhead-2; the drive to the gate is primitive and suits high-clearance vehicles. Keep to the established Emmaline Lake route through the CSU Mountain Campus area and stay off adjoining property. The Mummy Pass turn is south and left at about mile 2.4 from Trailhead-1, before Cirque Meadows. It is easy to miss in the burned forest. Fall Creek crosses near mile 2.2, shortly before the junction, so carry enough water before leaving Emmaline: no water is documented along #937. For a shorter day on the shared approach, continue to Cirque Meadows and turn back instead of taking the pass trail.

Trail #937 enters Comanche Peak Wilderness about half a mile after the junction, then climbs through forest and above timberline to the national park boundary. About 1.7 miles inside the park, it reaches Mummy Pass. The Forest Service describes the tread as natural ground; expect an uneven backcountry path rather than a built walkway. Open meadows and seasonal wildflowers break up the climb, and the treeless divide opens across the Mummy Range. For a phone photo, keep some of the route in the foreground so the ridge reads as the end of a long walk.

The route crosses forests affected by the 1994 lightning fire and the 2020 Cameron Peak Fire. Lodgepole pine and aspen are growing back, but burned areas still have unstable dead trees, stump holes, loose rock and logs, and flash-flood or debris-flow risk; upper slopes have little shade in hot, dry weather. Snow commonly lingers on the upper trail into late June, and winter snow can make the tread hard to follow; Forest Road 145 may be unplowed. Dogs may be leashed on the Forest Service section but are prohibited inside the park, so they cannot accompany the full hike. An overnight stay inside the park requires a permit.