Pinal Peak: Kellner Canyon

A couple of weeks ago I drank the proverbial Kool-Aid of Six Shooter Canyon. For me, it lived up to the hype, perhaps even exceeded it. I was determined to get back over to the Globe area to see how Kellner Canyon rode.

Once again, I didn't get as early a start as I wanted. In fact, it was about 2 hours later!! An 11a rollout meant it was going to be toasty at least until I gained some elevation.

I started the route exactly how I started Six Shooter, but this time the CCC parking area was open.

Bottom of Telephone trail.

Water was still running at the first crossing.

It was good to reach the pines. I could tell my legs didn't quite have the same pop as last time and it was hovering around 90º.

When things cool off, this looks like it'll make a fine adventure leading out towards Doak.

The haze below just looks hot.

I had stopped a couple of times to take a break when shade presented itself. Not much on this stretch, but I was now almost to 7,000'.

A steady 8 mile climb gets you here. It was definitely cooler and almost all downhill back to the car.

One final snack break before heading down. Sign says 5 miles to the parking area.

Beautiful bench cut trail to start.

Then things got rocky for about a 1/2 mile as the trail crisscrossed a drainage a few times. All rideable, but pay attention!!

Right when things smoothed out...gate.

Some remnants from the past strewn about.

Back to our regularly scheduled program on sweet singletrack.

The distant clouds almost look like snow-capped peaks.

Trail-side cave.

The trail continued to ride great as I could begin to feel the temps creep up.

Still plenty of glorious shade.

Looks like an old burn scar, no shade here.

The bare branches seem to be waving the white flag. We surrender!!

The mining district of Miami, AZ.

I thought the trail may become more rugged here, but it stayed true to the bench cut contours of the upper portion.

Land of the scrub brush. Thankfully, a wide trail corridor has been established.

The singletrack ended here, a dirt road junction after only 3 miles. That was my only real complaint about Kellner Canyon, too short.

My water supply, while warm, did not need to be topped off.

So purdy...and pointy.

The end of the ride was mostly this, a bit of a let down, but since it was getting hot I didn't mind the fast finish.

It was early afternoon, I was hungry soooo....tacos!! Another post-ride go-to when in the area.

Words to live by.

I enjoyed Kellner Canyon, not quite as much as Six Shooter, again, mostly because it was a couple miles shorter. There's still a few more trails on Pinal Peak to check out and hopefully with some trail work in the coming months there will be more options for a full day of riding either with or without a shuttle.

So far, it seems if you're going to drive all the way over there you should either ride to the top or at least do a couple shuttle runs to make it worthwhile. I don't think I'd drive 1 1/2 hours to only do one shuttle drop, seems silly to me. To each their own.

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