Stoner Phoenix
The lay of the land
Phoenix is a flat grid with mountains poking through it like islands. South Mountain caps the city on the south side. The Phoenix Mountains Preserve, with Piestewa Peak as its crown, splits the middle along the 51. Camelback sits between Arcadia and Paradise Valley. North Mountain and Shaw Butte rise over Sunnyslope and Moon Valley. Papago's red sandstone buttes guard the east edge by the zoo.
Every one of them is a city park or preserve. That matters for two reasons. The trails are free and close, and the city runs them, which means city rules (more on the heat closures below). Pick based on what you want: a lung-buster workout, a long quiet desert wander, or a spot to sit and watch the sky go orange.
South Mountain
South Mountain Park and Preserve is over 16,000 acres, one of the biggest city-run parks in the country, and it has more than 100 miles of trail. It is three ranges in one (Ma Ha Tauk, Gila and Guadalupe), and it is the mountain locals quietly love most. It is less of a scene than Camelback, the views are bigger, and you can make a hike as easy or as brutal as you want.
Holbert Trail to Dobbins Lookout
The Holbert Trail starts near the main entrance off Central Avenue and climbs about 2.5 miles and 1,100 feet up through boulders and saguaros. A spur takes you to Dobbins Lookout, the stone shelter at 2,330 feet that is the highest spot in the park open to the public. From up there the whole Valley lays out flat, downtown towers in the middle, the grid running off into haze. It is also where people who drove up Summit Road park and stand around, so expect company.
Mormon Trail and the National Trail
The Mormon Trail leaves from the trailhead off 24th Street on the north side and climbs about a mile and 720 feet to meet the National Trail. Look for petroglyphs on the rocks along the way. It is busy, rocky and a great after-work climb in winter. The National Trail is the spine of the whole park, running the length of the ridge. You can hop on it from Mormon, from Holbert near the radio towers, or from Pima Canyon on the east end. Do a chunk of it and you get ridgeline views on both sides: Phoenix to the north, the Gila River valley to the south.
The towers and the lookouts
The forest of radio and TV towers on the ridge is how you spot South Mountain from anywhere in town. Summit Road winds up past Dobbins and on toward Buena Vista Lookout near the towers, with blind corners, cyclists and steep drop-offs, so drive it slow or bike it. On Silent Sundays the city closes Summit Road to cars for part or all of the day so walkers and riders get the road. Out past Buena Vista, the Gila Valley Lookout faces south over the reservation side of the mountain, reached by a short connector off the National Trail. It is quieter and feels miles from the city.
If you live down in Laveen and the South Mountain area, this is your backyard and you already know it. Everyone else from downtown is about twenty minutes straight down Central.
Piestewa Peak
Piestewa is the people's mountain. The Summit Trail is 1.2 miles and about 1,200 feet of climbing, and the city rates it extremely difficult, which it is. It is basically a staircase made of rocks. Locals do it as a workout, timed, with earbuds in, and they will pass you without breaking stride. The top gives you a 360 view: Camelback to the southeast, downtown to the south, the whole preserve rolling north.
The Freedom Trail is the smarter move if you want desert instead of a StairMaster. It loops about 3.7 miles around the peak, climbs less, and the back side gets weirdly quiet considering you are a few minutes from the 51. You can tack the summit on as a detour if you are feeling it.
Piestewa vs Camelback
Our call: Piestewa wins for anyone who actually lives here. Parking is easier, the trail is steep but not sketchy, and the crowd is regulars, not bachelorette parties. Camelback is the more famous mountain and it is a real climb, but Piestewa is the one you can do twice a week without a plan. If you want quieter still, the Dreamy Draw area on the same preserve has gentler trails that wander through washes.
Camelback Mountain
Camelback is the postcard. It is also, frankly, a lot. Echo Canyon is the classic route: short, steep, with handrails bolted into the rock for the worst stretch and a final scramble over boulders that eats knees on the way down. Cholla comes up the east side from a trailhead off Invergordon Road. It is longer and starts gentler, then turns into a ridge scramble that will have you using your hands near the top.
Both are crowded on any decent morning, and the Echo Canyon lot fills fast. The city has also closed trails here for repairs and safety work after storms loosen boulders, so check the trail status before you plan your morning around it. Rescues happen on Camelback constantly, usually tourists who brought one water bottle in July. Do not be that person.
Should you do it? Once, absolutely. It is the highest point in the city and the views over Arcadia and the Biltmore are earned. After that, most locals drift back to Piestewa or South Mountain and leave Camelback to the visitors.
North Mountain and Papago
North Mountain
North Mountain is the underrated one. The North Mountain National Trail #44 climbs about 1.4 miles to the top, steep and rocky, and the Shaw Butte Trail next door loops about four miles with long views back over Sunnyslope and the city. It is quieter than Piestewa and close to I-17, which makes it the default for anyone up north. Lookout Mountain, a short drive away in the same northern stretch of the preserve, has a summit loop that people swear by for sunset.
Papago Park
Papago is not really a hike, and that is the point. Hole in the Rock is a short scramble, about 0.3 miles with a couple hundred feet of steps, up to a sandstone cave with a hole in the ceiling that the Hohokam may have used to track the sun. It looks out over the lagoons and both skylines. The Double Butte Loop on the west side circles the big red buttes for a couple of easy flat miles. Governor Hunt's Tomb, the little white pyramid on a hill, is a weird and great five-minute climb.
Papago is crowded at sunset, it is right by the zoo and the Desert Botanical Garden, and it straddles the Tempe line (Tempe is not our turf, but we will allow it). Check the gate hours, because some of the parking areas close earlier than the trails.
Best sunset spot in Phoenix (and sunrise too)
The best sunset spot in Phoenix is Dobbins Lookout. We already said it. The sun drops behind the Sierra Estrellas, the sky goes pink then purple, and the grid turns into a carpet of lights. Hike up Holbert in the last hours of light and walk down by headlamp, or drive Summit Road if the gate hours work. Parking and the entrance close earlier than the trails, so check before you commit to a late descent.
Runner-up is Hole in the Rock at Papago, for minimal effort. Lookout Mountain up north and the top of Piestewa are both great too, but the Piestewa summit is a sketchy descent in fading light if you are not used to it.
Sunrise belongs to Piestewa and Camelback. Light comes over the McDowells and the Four Peaks to the east and hits the city from the side. In summer you basically have to hike at sunrise anyway, so make it a habit.
Heat sense, snakes and water
This is the part people skip and then get helicoptered off a mountain. Phoenix heat is not regular heat. By late spring the rocks hold heat like a pizza stone and the trails stay hot well after dark.
Heat closures
The city closes its busiest trails on days the National Weather Service issues an Extreme Heat Warning. On those days, the trails are closed from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. That covers Echo Canyon and Cholla on Camelback, the Piestewa Peak Summit Trail and its associated trails, and on South Mountain the Holbert Trail, the Mormon Trail, the Hau'pal Loop and National Trail access from the Pima Canyon trailhead. The National Trail stays open from other trailheads. Honestly, if it is that hot, nobody should be hiking past breakfast anywhere.
Going early
From roughly May through September, the move is to be on the trail at first light and off it by mid-morning. Bring more water than seems reasonable (a liter per hour is not crazy in summer), salty snacks and a hat. Turn around when your water is half gone. Leave the dog home on hot days, since their paws burn on the rock. If you get dizzy, stop, find shade and call for help sooner rather than later.
Rattlesnakes
Rattlesnakes are out when it is warm, especially spring and early fall mornings and summer evenings. They want nothing to do with you. Watch where you put your hands on scrambles, do not reach blindly into rock ledges, keep earbuds low enough to hear a rattle, and give any snake you see a wide berth.
The sesh after
Quick reality check, said once: smoking of any kind is not allowed in Phoenix's desert parks and mountain preserves, and the preserves get a full fire ban in the hot months on top of that. The whole desert is one dry match away from a brush fire. So the trail is for hiking, and the sesh is for later, back home on the patio with your legs pleasantly destroyed. Our guide to where to sesh in Phoenix covers the rest.
Same deal with getting there. Rideshare to the trailhead or drive up sober, then sesh once you are home and parked for the night. Nobody wants to navigate Summit Road's blind curves impaired, and you do not want to either.
Then go eat something. Post-hike tacos are a sacred rite, and our Phoenix munchies guide has you covered. Planning around the weather? The seasons guide tells you which months the mountains are a joy and which months they will try to kill you. Want more to do afterward? Try the things to do high in Phoenix list.
