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Wildlife Water Trough
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Telephone Canyon
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Upper Showgirl Ridge
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| Tin Can Alley Trail |
Five of our AtBF pod plus one visitor from out-of-town, Lori, decided to take advantage of the slightly cooler temperatures. We began our hike from Deer Creek Road and hiked a few trails in the Telephone Canyon area for a loop that included the water troughs on the Trough Trail. We began at the 5th paved turnout on Deer Creek Road from the intersection of Kyle Canyon Road. In retrospect, the 6th turnout would have been better but, for this group, it mattered not. We dropped down a steep path to the Cowboy Washington Trail, turned left, then dropped again down another path to the Tin Can Alley Trail just below and turned to the right. We were on our way down to the crossing of Telephone Canyon Road 1.3 miles into the hike.
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Starting down Tin Can Alley
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From here, Tin Can Alley continues down alongside the dirt road but we went straight to cross the road and join the Lower Showgirl Trail. The scenic trail traverses the contour of the ridge above then begins descending around the corner.
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Tin Can Alley Trail
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Reaching a ridge peak that trails down from above, we found the cross trail we were looking for. A left turn started us on a very steep bike trail I call The Dive ... only, this time, we were climbing instead of diving!
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Lower Showgirl Trail
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Hiking along Lower Showgirl
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As we climbed the difficult trail, we couldn't help but be impressed by any biker that took on this route. We huffed and puffed until we reached the top where a more decent trail turned to the left. The trail circled around to begin a long switchback-type route up to the top of the ridge. The switchbacking took a natural route along the small peaks of the main ridge. This took us over a little peak I call Little Bald Knoll. Next, the trail traversed over to a wash. At the creation of this trail, a route on the other side of the wash was abandoned due to an unruly hillside switchback. Most hikers and bikers use the wash to go from this point up (or down) to the trail crossings. This is a shady spot where we took our break.
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View across Telephone Canyon to Fletcher Peak Ridge
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As we sat for our break, we noticed that there is a "roundabout" around a small tree at the point of the switchback. Possibly, those bikers who do not wish to do "The Dive" turn around here.
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Stepladder Peak
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It is also very clear that from this point on up to the top of the ridge has been recently "improved" for bikers. The old worn rock path has been raked clean. Higher tree limbs have been sawed off and a couple of bike jumps were made out of fallen trees across the trail. Since this trail is not in the NRA boundaries, I am thinking that work on trails does not have to go through the channels for permission. But, it was a little sad to see the historic feel of the worn rock trail gone.
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Starting the Climb up The Dive
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Finishing the Climb up to Upper Showgirl
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So, after break, we climbed up the next long switchback that led us around the end of the next ridge and back. Then it turned back and led up to the top of the ridge. The trail gently climbs all this way with nice views on either side of us to Angel Peak, Fletcher Peak and Mummy's Toe. After a short dip and turn through a wash, we made our way over to a bare saddle. The main Upper Showgirl Trail continues in a 2:00 direction but we turned in an 11:00 direction to take an old crossover trail to the Trough Trail. A left turn on the Trough Trail sent us diving down to the old wildlife troughs. A busy beehive stills buzzes in the water pipe three feet from the trough. Be careful here. The bees were a little agitated with us but did not attack. We took our photos and moved on.
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Trail through the Little Bald Knoll Area
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There is a newer trail that zigzags down the hill while crossing the trough wash a couple of times but we decided to take the old Trough Trail straight down the wash. We ended up at Telephone Canyon Road where the old car hood landmark resides.
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View from Upper Showgirl to Kyle Canyon
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This is also a campsite that is still used at times. There was a lot of trash around. We chose not to pick up the trash this time since we would have to carry the trash up another 200' and 1 mile to the cars.
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Mike prepares for Second Half of Hike
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Angel Peak comes into View
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We crossed Telephone Canyon Road and took a small short path to the left to connect with Tin Can Alley. A right turn sent us up the hillside for our last climb. After the climbing we had already experienced, the gentle climb was almost a cool down! Until ... we got to the very last short climb to the turnout. This is why it would be better to begin at the sixth turnout instead of the fifth! My bad. Keep in mind that the trails in this area are all bike trails. Eyes open for kamikaze bikers! A few of the bikers are getting smart and adding noise makers on their bikes to warn hikers that they are coming. It was a good workout hike with new views. The summer is winding down. We need more days that are not so hot!!
Stats: 6.6 miles; 1700' gain; 4 hours
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