Highline: Triple E (East End Extravaganza)

 A recent article about the Highline trail on Singletracks.com reminded me that I needed to ride that trail again. I wanted to check out the most recent upgrade on it, a series of climbing switchbacks between See Canyon and the Two Sixty trailhead.

I made the drive north to Payson, then east along SR260 to Christopher Creek. There were a few cars parked at the small See Canyon trailhead. It was about 9a when I got rolling, temps hovering in the upper 70's, ahhh.

My plan for the day would be to ride the Highline east to its terminus at the Two Sixty trailhead, then ride back, see how I felt and continue west for a bit. The initial out-n-back, OnB, would only be about 14 miles.

Christopher Creek with a nice flow near the trailhead.

A couple miles into the ride, I came to the new re-route. The original Highline route would remain, but now designated as the Malpractice DH. I'd come down that on the return.

New tread heads up.

It was mostly rideable, probably all rideable, but I was feeling the 6000'+ in elevation. It's amazing how much fitness you lose in only two weeks of not riding.

Incredibly well built trail.

It was the bluest of blue-bird days. The clarity was unmatched.

Nice new gates with cool Highline trail blazes.

The Drew trail comes off the top of the rim and meets the Highline here, at the gate.

Rim Country has some of my favorite areas in all of Arizona.

Morphing back-n-forth with Sedona style riding.

A little over 7 miles to reach the Two Sixty trailhead.

A few feet away from the previous photo, this updated map shows the full 63 miles of the Highline trail, divided into three segments: Gathering Waters, the Inner Sactum and Geronimo's Call. (East to West)

View to the west towards Pine.

Malpractice DH time.

Down in the shadows and ferns.

Sedona time warp.

Century plant post-bloom.

A bit of the legacy Highline tread.

Amazingly clear view to the south. Brown's Peak, is the highest of the Four Peaks. I did notice some smoke on the far left, hmmm. PeakFinder app.

Apparently, the Hellsgate fire started sometime earlier in the day. Guessing it was human caused because there was no evidence of any lightning.

Small plume of smoke still visible.

I made good time getting back to the See Canyon trailhead. It wasn't quite noon yet, so I decided to keep pedaling west. There's a sizable climb coming out of the trailhead. I made it to the gate, then the trail undulates for a while. I thought I may ride out to Horton Springs, but that would put the ride over 30 miles and I wasn't sure I was up to that today. As I went farther west, I knew I wasn't going to reach the spring. A quick look at the upcoming elevation profile and I opted to turn around before a mile descent. It was the correct choice as I really enjoyed the return ride knowing I'd finish with a long downhill.

Promontory Butte looms over the trail.

Alligator Juniper trees are everywhere here.

Crossed through the gate, all downhill from here!!

Parking area comes into view, much more crowded than my arrival.

What a fun ride!! It was just the amount of difficulty I needed today. I can't recommend this trail enough. It's so close too, barely two hours from home. There's really no excuse to not ride in the summer if you live in the Phoenix area.

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Globe: Six Shooter #locoride

 We had returned from our cross-country road trip on Wednesday evening, then I turned around and worked 12 hours the following day. I topped that off with another 6 hours on Friday before doing a short, hot spin over at Hawes. Let me tell you, I can concur that I absolutely will take riding in 105º with 10% humidity over those east coast conditions.

It was good to get a ride in, but I wanted a bigger ride and preferably a bit cooler. There was an AES ride going on up on the Kaibab Plateau, but I didn't want another 12 hours round trip of driving. Even Flagstaff felt far, so I opted to check out some of the new trails up on Pinal Peak over by Globe. I had hoped to get up around 5a, so I could be pedaling up the mountain by 7:30...but I slept in until 8a!! Oops, guess it's going to be on the warm side of things again.

I rolled into the Globe area around 10a and decided I'd check out the bike shop in town, TopoJoe's. They offer Pinal Peak shuttles, but were severely damaged by last year's devastating floods. It was good to see them back up and running, now with plans to open a coffee shop in the front of the shop. 

TopoJoes right on main street in Globe.

Gila Monster shredding it.

I left there and made my way up to the CCC Campground where I'd be staging my ride. It was already pushing 90º and the thought of riding down the mountain for two miles, then climbing about 16 to the top wasn't super appealing.

I have an idea: what if I just go up Kellner Canyon and skip most of the dirt road climb? It's gotta be faster as it'll cut off almost 10 miles. I mean, how hard could it be? I know there will be some hike-a-bike, HAB, but whatevs. So, that's what I opted to do. It was five miles from the trailhead to the top of Kellner Canyon.

Didn't look too bad at the start.

Grade increased, trail degraded, pushing ensued.

Over 500' gain in the first mile, a bit too much for my singlespeed legs.

Water source near the start of the Kellner Canyon trail.

Shade provided a nice snack break.

Now two miles into it, hasn't really relented any and it looks like it won't.

There were very short bits of riding mixed in, but it was mostly walking to this point.

Bit of a tight squeeze here.

Getting into the big trees now and with it, more pleasant temperatures.

Holy moly, that last mile was brutally steep!! 730' gained.

There was actually some extended pedaling over the next mile and it went by quickly.

Less than 300' gained over this mile, that's more like it!!

Mining remnants up here.

The trail criss-crossed the drainage a few times.

Are we there yet??

Averaging over 500' per mile. Solid, but I can see the road!!

The higher I go, the thicker it gets.

Finally!! Made it to the top of Kellner Canyon.

I still think I got here quicker than had I taken the road. Maybe.

On to the new trail!! I planned to do the Pinal Vista Loop in the CCW direction, then take the road up to the top of Pinal Mtn.

Deer sighting.

Bench cut to perfection, fun routing too.

There was more climbing, my legs were feeling it after the big effort at the start.

I felt the onset of cramps coming, stopped the bike and hopped off before my quads locked up. Ouch!! While sitting on the ground, my left ankle cramped!! Never had that happen before.

The cramping subsided, the climbing continued.

Onto the north side of the loop and back down to the top of Kellner Canyon.

Fun boulder section.

I was now trending in the downhill direction.

This was a really fun loop and a great addition to the mountain.

The new loop is about 3 miles, now back on the main road to finish the climb to the top.

Radio towers come into view!! Almost there.

Up on Pinal Peak at 7848'. I can practically see my house from here.

Soaked in the views, had a snack, then headed off.

Ferndell trail.

I think I looked down at my GPS, then as soon as I looked up the trail...DUCK!! Barely made it under the high down tree, lightly smacking my helmet on it. That sucker will take you OUT if you're not paying attention.

Six Shooter junction. The guys at the bike shop warned me of a couple down trees along here.

I thought this was a bit crazy. From the top of Six Shooter, already over 4000' gain, yet only a bit over 12 miles. That's a boat load of climbing. Blazin' fast too, about 2.5 mph!! Haha.

It's really hard to believe that trails like this are barely two hours from home.

Snap!! This one took a bit of work to get around.

Overall, Six Shooter was in great condition as the views open up.

Whoa!! Where'd the trail go? Straight through. It was only 50' long or so.

The one short, steep, hike-a-bike on the way down.

Great spot for a short break.

As I descended, I was expecting the heat to ramp back up, but it never really did.

Also to my surprise, hardly any significant burn damage from the massive fire a few years ago. This was my first time back on the mountain since then and I kinda feared the worst. So glad to see all the big, tall pines intact.

This one looked like it simply exploded.

Shout out to the folks involved in maintaining this trail, I know it was a lot of work after the fire, yet you could hardly tell anything had happened.

The occasional pop of color along the way down.

Sections of this trail make it feel incredibly remote.

Getting close to the end now.

The tall pines slowly give way.

Somewhere in here I noticed the right side of my handlebars had become loose. I'm running the Fasst Flexx MTB bars, each side is independent of the other and has an adjustable elastomer inside for the desired amount of flex. Essentially, handlebars with suspension. They have been a real asset to me ever since I broke my wrist, back in 2015. I have a Ti screw in my right wrist and these bars, coupled with my Rev Grips (suspension in the grips!!) really help to damper the constant pounding from our trails. Since I like to be out on long rides, this really helps me with numbness/tingling in my hands. 

Anyway, based on the looseness of the bars, I thought I may have snapped the Ti bolt inside the bars. I'm a little overdue in replacing it. The bars still felt stable enough, so I really paid attention to any upcoming drops/rocks. I only had about 2 miles remaining and the final mile was on a graded dirt road.

Note: When I got home, I checked the bolt, it had only come loose, not broken. First time that's happened in the 5+ years I've had the bars.

Dirt road exit comes into view. It was now warm out, but not nearly as hot as I thought it would be. In fact, it felt hotter when I started this morning.

Cruising back to the trailhead, I took my last sip of water. Perfect place to run out.

What a fun day!! Sure, it was hard, but I was looking for that. Now I know what it's like to go up Kellner Canyon. I can't wait until the new trail at the bottom of the mountain is built, it'll bypass private property giving quicker access to the main road up the mountain.

I've said it before, I'll say it again, if you haven't been over to Globe to ride Pinal Peak, get on it. If you don't want to climb up the main road, TopoJoe's offers shuttles. There's really no excuse. Temps are quite pleasant up top during the summer, just plan for a warm finish.

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