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| - Tempe Butte is a nice cross between a hike, a walk, and a climb. The whole thing isn't very long - maybe about 15 minutes, depending on how fit you are (I'm not very fit). Some people run up it, and I applaud their athletic ability, but I prefer to walk up very slowly.
As far as I know, there are three entrances to the trail to get to the top. One is right by the old mill building and that starts off as a steep paved incline. The other two are on both sides of the light rail station behind the Tempe Transportation Center. One of those is right next to the Sun Devil Stadium. Those two entrances start off with an unpaved trail that winds upwards. It's slightly more interesting than the entrance by the mill because you get to see old signs on rocks made by the Native Americans that used to leave in Tempe. The trail ends up at the paved incline as well.
After walking up the paved incline, you begin to climb the steps and rocks. This area is pretty gravel-y and I found it easy to trip if I wasn't careful. Some of the steps were pretty tall and took some effort getting up to, but if I can do it, most other people can as well. After passing by the "A," there's still a little ways to go before the top. Before you get to the top, there are a couple view points with benches that you can comfortably rest at. The top is nothing but some antennas and rocks. The rocks are interesting to climb around and sit on, but not as comfortable as benches. From the top, you can see Tempe Town Lake, the entire campus of ASU, and the Phoenix airport, too. We didn't wait for the sunset, but it also seemed like a pretty good place to watch the sunrise/sunset.
Overall, it was a pretty easy hike, a nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon. I saw girls doing it in high heels and old ladies climbing it, too, so it's not that bad. I imagine it's also a pretty good workout for people who live in the area. For me, though, I think once enough.
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