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| Hiking | 9.94 Miles |
2,059 AEG |
| | Hiking | 9.94 Miles | 6 Hrs 30 Mns | | 2.01 mph |
| 2,059 ft AEG | 1 Hour 34 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | This trip was a bit of an adventure! Shortly after leaving the US60 in Globe to head towards the Pinal Mountain Recreation area, there was a short detour as Ruiz Canyon Road was closed, so instead of taking that to S Jesse Hayes road, you continue on Wallman road and instead turn right onto Beer Tree Crossing( ). You pass under a low and narrow railroad bridge, then make your left onto 6 shooter canyon road. After that, back to normal Google directions. The road is paved until the DC Cattle company. But even after that, the road is in nice shape. I saw a passenger car driving on it.
The next major thing to note is to follow the signs for 112B to the Icehouse CCC Campground Trailhead. This is different than what is listed in the directions. Formerly, 112B cut through and you could access 112 (Icehouse Canyon road) from either end of 112B. You can see it on the topo map and on Google maps. But no more. Now there is only access to the Trailhead from the North. So definitely turn when you see the sign. That road is graded and easy to drive on. But I didn't know that, and I figured I would come from the other end and have a shorter 4wd road to navigate. But upon passing the (now only) 112B entry, I went down 112 to where the 112B used to come out onto to 112 to only see nothing. Sigh. That section of road has been dismantled and blocked. This is all fine and good, but 112 is a single lane road starting at 112B. It is not easy to turn around. We Y turned ourselves around and went back to the 112B turn in. There is a gate at the start of 112B that says day use only. 112B is in good condition, as is the rest room building. There are a few picnic tables and fire rings.
We parked and started off on 6 shooter which starts from the giant culdesac-like dirt circle at the northern part of the Campground.
6 shooter was pretty after crossing the road. We saw some great red maples showing their colors! I am sure last week must have been amazing. It was past its prime, but still so pretty! A little higher up, we saw leftover snow from the last storm.  The grade is gradual and enjoyable. Before we knew it, we were at the junction with telephone trail where we stopped for a snack near the spring box. We hadn't seen a single person on the trail - glorious!!
We headed back out onto telephone. 6 shooter was in very nice shape. There was one section between the Trailhead and the road where the trail has been rerouted compared to the official route, but nothing major. Just follow the multitude of bike tracks to find the trail! On telephone, from the 6 shooter junction, the trail was super well groomed, like someone had rolled out the hiking trail red carpet!! After a short time on the trail, we met the trail maintenance crew working hard. They were raking the trail. No wonder it looked so amazing!  One of the crew said that the rest of telephone trail was not maintained until the junction with icehouse. The trail crew was working to fix up the rest of the telephone trail the next two weekends. He mentioned you needed some route finding skills. We didn't find it difficult, until almost to the junction with icehouse when there were 25 large downed trees where the trail should be. Up until the tree explosion, the trail was brushy with a few downed trees, but nothing too bad.
Icehouse and Telephone continue together for a short stretch, then telephone goes off to the right and is maintained again. Nothing too exciting on the home stretch to the car. One steep section that confusingly starts with two gates. One that you come through and another right next to it. There is one trail junction then you cross icehouse Canyon road and are back at the icehouse CCC Campground/Trailhead.
It was nice to try a new trail! We saw no one on 6 shooter and only a single pair of hikers on telephone (not counting the trail maintenance crew of about 5 people). The weather was glorious! From the TH, it was smooth sailing all the way home to phx!
I noticed routescout had an issue on sixshooter.  Bummer. Airplane mode was on. I was able to reset it when I noticed it wasn't responding. |
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Autumn Foliage Observation Moderate
Beautiful red maples on 6 shooter. Nothing on telephone so much. |
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Wildflowers Observation Isolated
Few wildflowers on 6 shooter near to the icehouse CCC Campground Trailhead. |
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Six Shooter Canyon |
Light flow |
Light flow |
| | | Lightflow in 6 shooter canyon at the junction of 6 shooter and telephone trails. Also a bit of stagnant water in the spring box. | | _____________________
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Route Editor
Route Scout
Route 
). You pass under a low and narrow railroad bridge, then make your left onto 6 shooter canyon road. After that, back to normal Google directions. The road is paved until the DC Cattle company. But even after that, the road is in nice shape. I saw a passenger car driving on it.
Bummer. Airplane mode was on. I was able to reset it when I noticed it wasn't responding.
