Kelly Canyon Sep 16
Access to this unmarked trail is from a campground on the first forest road north of Vista Point at the top of Oak Creek Canyon
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KELLY CANYON
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There is no marked trailhead, but the Canyon is easily reached across a wide meadow
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Down canyon is Pumphouse Wash, which runs steeply down the Rim
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Upstream, the "gates" mark the start of Kelly Canyon
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Cutting through a small cave in the canyon wall
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Poison ivy is expeted today
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Climbing into ponderosa country
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These log crossings have been mostly built by bikers
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Upper Kelly is radically different from the ssteep-walled, watery lower part, being dryer and shallower
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Lunch at our turnaround point
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Starting back on the same trail...
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...but above the confluence of the two forks of the canyon, we climb the point between them
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Going over the top and steeply down the other side...
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We emerge in the other canyon fork
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Back in the original canyon now
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This is our cue to climb out of the canyon again
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Crossing the meadow to return to the forest road
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