Foxtail Wander - 8/18/25

Rim of Foxtail Ridge (Charleston's north ridge Beyond)

Sue deals with the steep scree Climb

Kay deals with a wrong Turn

Susan enjoys reaching the Rim

This was one of those days that you start out to do one hike and you end up doing a different one! Three Lady Hikers parked at the Pay Phone Trailhead located just below the Lee Canyon Road traffic circle. We had intended on doing a simple climb up Foxtail Ridge just past the water tank at the end of the forest road above the old girl scout camp and using the BCL Trail, we were going to make a nice loop and back to the car. But, noooo!

Rounding the water tank Curve

Embarking on an unfamiliar Trail

Making a left turn UP

Reaching the Foxtail Ridge Rim

So, we hiked the trail up to the top of the initial low ridge and used the Forest Road to go up to the Lee Canyon water tank. Circling around the big tank, I noticed a trail that I didn't know was there. It was a nice trail. Where did it go? Puppyhood lasts forever for some people. So, I rerouted the ladies along this trail knowing that if it didn't do anything interesting, we would be retracing our steps to climb Foxtail Ridge as usual. As we hiked, we noted interesting things on our right. (I'll let you explore.) Finally, we saw the ski area parking overflow area ahead and kind of figured out that this trail had something to do with that connection. Not ready to give up, we looked up to our left. Yep! It was steep. It was mostly scree. But, we saw a few pink trail ribbons. Figuring that the wild horses probably didn't tie these ribbons on the trees, we headed up ... I mean, really UP! As we climbed, we came across a few vague trails (perhaps wild horses) but the pink ribbons disappeared quickly. Susan and Sue decided to make a switchback to the left to reach the Foxtail Ridge rim sooner. I stayed the course and climbed and climbed. About halfway up, I started recognizing a few landmarks. And, I found a better vague trail running laterally across the hill.

Foxtail Ridge (Mummy Mountain in Background)

The first Saddle

Susan's scramble Up

I turned right onto this trail and made faster progress. With the help of my GPS, I knew that I was heading for the BCL junction saddle. However, I abandoned the trail too soon and ended up at the first saddle on the rim. This saddle is a cliff. Wrong one! I sat there and waited for Susan and Sue to make it up to the place I sat and enjoyed the view. It turned out that my "straight up" theory was quicker than the switchback theory. After regathering, we dropped to the saddle and realized we needed to go further. I recognized this next section to be a messy one. Either, you have to make a difficult scramble to the top of the ridge ... or ... lose some elevation in yucky terrain and climb back up to the next saddle on a convenient trail. It may have been the same trail I was on for a few minutes! Well, limber Susan did the scramble as we prayed(!). Sue and I did the "down and around" ... slowly. Finally, all three of us arrived at the second saddle, the BCL Trail Junction marked by a small cairn and a log nearby to take a break on ... which we did. Next, leaving the gold nail standing in the cairn and taking our group photo, we started our descent on the BCL Trail, a trail that was built by three of our friends a couple of years ago. The trail is extremely useful and we appreciate it.

Sue and Kay's hike around the rocky Peak

Reaching the rim Again

Foxtail Spring wash on Left

Since Hilary, the wash at the bottom of the trail has been gutted. It is a difficult crossing and there are bushes with thorns when you finally get to the other side. A little maintenance here would be nice but the wilderness folks frown on this sort of thing. We got across and climbed up to a familiar place on the Foxtail Spring hike route. We had no particular agenda to climb up to Foxtail Spring so, here, we took a use trail down between the two main washes and climbed up to the Foxtail Spring Road. (officially called  Snowplay Road) We descended the dirt road to the pump house and down through the aspen corridor. Again, because we were wandering, we decided to turn up the Pioneer Camp turnoff and take a left onto a trail that runs the base of Pioneer Rock down to the camp cottages and main house. There is a large fallen tree over the trail that can be circled around. Also, the wash is gutted at the bottom of the trail, too. This crossing is a lot easier than the one at the bottom of the BCL Trail and we arrived in front of the main house with the Peace Pole in front of it. By this time, we had embraced the "wander" theme. So, our finale would relinquish the usual hike back on the forest road from the water tank. 

Three Lady Hikers at BCL Junction Saddle

Descending the BCL Trail

The messy wash Crossing

Tall Thistle

We started down the Foxtail Camp Road. About half way down the road back to Lee Canyon Road, we passed a couple of campers on a walk. (They had a cute golden doodle colored black and brown. Its name was Reese's!) We passed a set of closed picnic bathrooms and came to the slip road on the left that runs up the hill to the forest road. A lot of work has been done to the trees on this part of the ridge. Many were cut down and some of the piles have been control burned. I guess they drove a car up this slip road because the fallen tree that was across the road has been pushed aside and a large rock pile now blocks the lower end of this road. We walked up the slip road and came to the switchback turn at the top where the trail leads down to the trailhead. Our wander was only 4 miles but it was a quality 4 miles!

Stats: 4 miles; 1200' gain; 4.5 hours

P.S. The hike started cold (45 degrees) and ended hot!

Foxtail Spring Road

Gutted wash above the pump House

Taking the trail at the base of Pioneer Rock to the Main House

Foxtail Camp Road, Forest Road slip, to Trailhead Trail