Lower Showgirl - 10/10/15

Tall Joshua Tree & Charleston Peak

Clump of Joshuas

Trail Follows Lateral Contour

Starting Up from Kyle Canyon Road

 Twenty-two hikers gathered for the leisurely hike this morning. We drove up Kyle Canyon Road to almost mile marker 14 where there is a sign posted on the gravel road turn to the left. It says, "NO ENTRY, Burned Area, Closed for Human Safety and Resource Protection." This is the Lower Showgirl Trailhead and we parked 4 of our 5 cars on the side of the paved road. (Note of warning: One of our cars drove past the sign to park and was rewarded with a citation.) In order to access the Showgirl Trail without marching through the roadside brush, we hiked past the sign and down to a tunnel that runs underneath Kyle Canyon Road to begin our hike.

Hiking Up along the Wash in the Bird Spring Formation

 Most of the elevation gain for this hike was done in the first mile as we climbed up from the road and along a wash. After climbing out of the wash, the slope became much more gentle.

Climbing Out of Wash

Leveling Out

 We found ourselves surrounded by joshua trees, banana yuccas, ancient creosote bushes, and manzanita. With the exception of the unusual placement of manzanita, these are the Upper Sonoran Desert flora that usually grow in the elevations between 4000' and 6000'. As our hike led us higher, juniper, pinyon pine trees and ephedra (Mormon Tea) grew along the trail putting us in the Transition life zone. The entire hike is located within the Kyle Canyon alluvial fan where Ice Age (Pleistocene) conglomerate type deposits were cemented together when there was much more precipitation.

Winding Through the Upper Sonoran Desert

 The trail started winding in and out along the contours of the terrain. This is a very wiggly trail! And, with each long wiggle, we were able to keep eyes on all of the twenty-two hikers.

Forest Road with Access from BLM Fire Station to Wooden Pole Powerline Road

 Just over 1.5 miles, we crossed the forest road that gives access from the BLM fire station up to Angel Peak by way of the Wooden Pole Powerline Road. This high clearance 4WD road is somewhat treacherous for hiking.

Long Line of Hikers

Joshua Tree Clump

 After crossing the dirt road, we climbed to the high point for the day then leveled off for a short distance. The coordinator meant to stop at 2.5 miles but when the terrain flattened out, she got too comfortable and continued on until 2.7 miles. Here, we found a smidgen of shade and took our break. The temperature was around 80 degrees. This hike would probably be best if it was a bit cooler. Nevertheless, it wasn't too bad and we all kept drinking our supplies of water. Just a few days ago, it was about twenty degrees cooler and snow fell on the upper elevations of Charleston Peak. Today, almost all the snow was gone.

View of Fletcher Peak on Return Zigzag

 With the exception of one small uphill, the return to the cars was all downhill. We kept a leisurely steady pace but still needed to wait on a couple of the slower club members.

Starting Slow Descent with South Loop in Distance

Charleston Peak seen from Last Half Mile

Like the ascent, there were several stops on the descent. The group was diverse in strength but the appointed Saturday leisurely hike is and always will be leisurely. We hiked back down into the initial wash and came out through the tunnel built under Kyle Canyon Road. This was a nice relaxed hike with new wide open views of the Kyle Canyon landscape and beyond.

5.5 miles; 700 feet elevation gain; 3.25 hours

Dropping Back into Initial Wash

Kyle Canyon Road in Sight

Hiking Through the Tunnel to the Trailhead

Goat Bed Peak Loop - 10/8/15

Goat Bed Peak (Limestone)

Starting Sandstone Scramble Climb

More Difficult Limestone Scramblin

Gateway Canyon Getting Further Away

 Goat Bed Peak was explored throughout the summer and today's hike could be named its premier with ten club hikers being introduced to its difficult 2nd, 3rd and 4th class scrambles. Laszlo sent these photos of the adventure and Steve Al. provided the GPS track information.

Goat Bed Peak is located north of Calico Basin on the north side of Gateway Canyon and the south side of Brownstone Canyon. It is basically on the ridge with Gray Cap although there doesn't seem to be an easy connection between the two peaks. The hikers started at the dirt parking lot at the end of Sandstone Drive in Calico Basin and trekked around the east end of Kraft Mountain. They crossed the wash at the bottom of Gateway Canyon and began their scrambling climb up the sandstone.

Goat Bed Peak from its Ridge

Ten Goats

Trek Down Starts Easy Enough

Tricky Cliff Drop

 After this, the climb continued into the limestone and they gained the ridge. Climbing along the ridge, they made the peak and took a break. What came next was unplanned and unexplored. Steve's only comment was that he deviated from the originally planned route on the descent and ended up bringing the group down a 4th class cliff descent. He also said that everyone seemed to go along with the new route without complaint. He added that they used a rope for those hikers that "needed a little reassurance." The hike finally dropped into Gateway Canyon where they walked back to the cars.

4 miles; 1500 feet elevation gain; 3.25 hours

Still Tricky

Back into the Sandstone

Final Drop into Gateway Canyon

Stepladder Peak - 10/7/15

Step Ladder Peak (L) from Approach

Griffith Peak (center) from Step Ladder Peak Approach

La Madre Range from Step Ladder Peak

Snow Covered Charleston Peak (in Distance) from Shady Hollow Trail

Across from the new Spring Mountains Gateway Visitor Center on Kyle Canyon Road, there is a large parking lot complete with pit toilets. This is the trailhead for the Step Ladder and Shady Hollow Trails where eleven AtBF hikers began their hike today. Although the target of the exploratory hike was the small peak that rises very near the trailhead, we started our hike as if we were doing the Shady Hollow / Step Ladder Loop Extended by heading out the trail found at the far end of the parking lot.

Telephone Canyon Road

 At the junction, we turned to the right to access the Shady Hollow Trail. At the next junction, we continued straight taking us off of the Shady Hollow and connected with the Telephone Canyon Road. Here, we turned to the left and followed the road just a few yards.

Starting Out Tin Can Alley Trail

A Very Washed Out Tin Can Alley Trail

 At the next trail turn to the left, we accessed the Tin Can Alley Trail and proceeded up on a parallel course to the Telephone Canyon Road. Recent rains have destroyed the nice bike trail that this was. Future bikers will have to use alternate routes for a while since the trail has washed out with gulleys and ruts along the path. Nevertheless, we were able to hike through being knowledgeable of the route. When we passed the turn off for the Trough Trail, we began climbing up to our left using the Telephone Canyon system of bike trails.

Fork Turn (High Point)

 Our long gradual climb that began on the Shady Hollow Trail culminated at a trail junction that would appear as a fork when traveling in the opposite direction. Here, we made the sharp left turn.

Trail No Longer Falling Off Side of Hill

 This part of today's route brought us to sections of the old Deer Creek Road. There is even one part where the old asphalt still lays. Also in this segment, there are a couple of places where the trail almost falls off the edge of the hill. However, these obstacles seem to be in much better condition now.

Break at Saddle

Following Small Old Trail to Step Ladder Peak

 At the saddle junction, we took our snack break. There are about five different trails that come together at this saddle. They include our trail that commences at Robbers' Roost above, Shady Hollow, Step Ladder Loop (bottom and top segments) and the Step Ladder Peak Trail. After our break, we started up the peak trail finding a small trail that was very clear for a short distance. The trail took us up and over the first rise of the ridge in front of us. We lost the old trail now and then but always found it again as it followed along the ridge climbing up to the high point, Step Ladder Peak.

New Visitor Center from Step Ladder Peak Trail

 As we began the last part of the climb, we were obliged to scramble a little to gain the limestone rimrock that surrounds the peak. The scrambling was not particularly difficult but did add a pleasant element to the hike.

Arriving at the Rimrock Area

View Back toward Saddle and Deer Creek Road

 At this point, the views became beautiful enough to require a stop here and there to take it in. In the past three days, the first snow of the season has covered the first 1000 elevation feet of the Charleston Peak summit. The snow has also dusted the South Loop and one side of Griffith Peak. We could not see Charleston Peak from our hike today but we had a nice view of Griffith and the South Loop as seen in the second photo of this entry. When we looked back, we could see all the way up to Robbers' Roost.

Just a Little Scrambling

 Angel Peak, AtBF Canyon and the Showgirl Ridge were laid out across Telephone Canyon. And, the La Madre mountain range could be seen across Kyle Canyon Road as seen in the third photo of this entry.

View of Angel Peak from Step Ladder Peak

 We took a minute on the peak to take in the new views and to take the photo below. Looking around, we saw that there were several small peaks in this immediate vicinity.

First Eleven AtBF Hikers on Step Ladder Peak

Heading to the Secondary Rise

 Continuing along the original ridge, we sloped down, up and over a secondary rise. On the other side of this rise, the trail started its descent among limestone rocks and scree. At first, the slope was generally average as we zigzagged around the rocks following the ridge down. But, as we crested at the edge of the hill, the slope steepened. Nicely, the steep slope was covered with limestone scree that enabled us to walk down fairly comfortably. Someone compared this slope with the Mummy's Tummy scree slope as the favorable choice.

Descending Over the Secondary Rise

 Just to the right of us, there was rimrock with cliffs below. The views, again, required us to stop and look. After the first scree hill, we took a step over and down a portion of the rimrock and continued down some more scree and rock.

View into Kyle Canyon from Descent

Stepping Down over the Rimrock in the Scree

 We could see the trailhead parking lot clearly far below us and we knew it was time to start closing that distance. Even though the old trail seemed to continue out to the end of the ridge, we decided to take a turn to our right ... down. The bushwhack was not bad and involved more scree. We zigzagged our way so that the slope was pretty easy. Soon, we junctioned with the upper side of the Step Ladder Loop. We took a left on the trail, turned right at the feeder trail and found the cars. Fun, fun, fun! Excellent hike with new views and moderate climbs.

7 miles; 1450 feet elevation gain; 3.75 hours

Bushwhack Junction - Old Trail Continued

Bushwhack / Step Ladder Loop Junction

Landmark at Bushwhack Junction