| rev:text
| - Whatever you call it - Piestewa, Squaw Peak, or Phx Mountains Park - this is a remarkably accessible Sonoran landscape lodged in the middle of the nation's fifth largest city. Still free, with mountain expanses most visitors never explore.
Indeed, the park experience can be starkly divided between The Summit Trail and Everything Else. On weekends, ascending the crag is akin to strolling in a parade, albeit at a dusty, jagged 16% incline. It's hard to find weekend parking, but it's an excellent 60-90 minute overall (up and down) workout, with ample cougars for you Wild Life lovers.
I'm more enamored with Everything Else. Not just the Circumference(302) and Nature (304) paths you pick up at the back of the parking lot. But all the marked and unmarked trails beyond. The 1A horse trail, the 8 and 8A on the east side, the VoAZ, 202, 8B and irregular link connectors, and the granddaddy 100, which runs west from Tatum, under the 51, thru North Mountain on 7th St all the way to Seventh Ave in Sunnyslope.
It's mindboggling to think you can hike (or mountain bike) 20 miles or more in the city with this kind of uninterrupted scenery, not once crossing a street grade intersection.
I've seen a rattler, gila monster and three coyotes on the outer trails, but that's over decades and several hundred hours in the preserve. It's quite rare to spot anything but birds, rabbits or squirrels. But, as I say, the scenery, relative solitude and physical and spiritual benefits of exploring these myriad mountains and valleys is priceless.
Bring water, and for longer hikes, skin protection.
|