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| - Something has to be said about the little guys of Phoenix's hiking universe. In a land where people switch from hiking Camelback to Piestewa Peak and then back to Camelback, the big cluster of trails that sprawl over north Phoenix can easily be overlooked. But I think it's great to take a break from the norm and explore new places once in a while - and also to step back and hike for hiking's sake and not think about "this climb is going to burn x calories at y heart rate in order to leave me with -z% body fat."
A bunch of these said trails in north Phoenix fall within the Shaw Butte Recreation Area, which I initially hiked back in spring and have been returning to since then, and I will say that I completely underestimated the experience because let's face it, Shaw Butte is ugly. At least from afar. If you're driving north on I-17 and look to the east, you'll see this nondescript brown hill topped with an antenna farm paired with it's just as ugly sister, North Mountain. Doesn't really attract you, does it.
But it's a great hike nevertheless. You park at a small lot in a residential neighborhood on Central Ave just south of Thunderbird and head into the Shaw Butte area. From here, you have two options - you can head up counterclockwise to the summit by taking the service road (which 99% of the people do - including families with kids, older folks taking leisurely walks, avid joggers, etc.) or, if you're like me, by following Trail 306/100 clockwise along the floor for about 1.5 miles until you start ascending Shaw Butte from the south side. I actually enjoyed walking on a flat surface for such a distance - I really appreciated the desert landscape a lot more as well as the view of the downtown skyline as the trail made its curve. The ascent itself has some parts which are reminiscent of Piestewa's stairmasterism, but they don't go on for nearly as long and level off time and time again for you to enjoy the views.
As you're getting closer to the summit, you'll come across the foundations of Cloud 9, a fine dining restaurant with a sweeping view of the Valley which was only accessible by a 4x4 on the aforementioned service road. It burned down in the 60's and was never rebuilt. Now a graffiti-ridden ghost, it's cool to stand here and imagine what a restaurant here would have been like, especially back in the early 60's when Phoenix was a fraction of its current size.
Then you can continue back onto Trail 306 and head up to the summit, where you're in antennae city. Oddly enough, most people who take the service road up from the north side don't walk around and hang out here. I'm usually just hanging out here by myself. Actually, let me correct that. I'm usually just hanging out here with a couple of iguanas who're sunning themselves on the rocks adjacent to the one I'm sitting on. I sit here for about 10 minutes, taking in the view looking south (usually), eating a snack, chilling with the iguanas, and then continuing in my clockwise direction by heading down the service road and back to my car.
For me, this loop is usually a 2 hour excursion. As I said, most people usually just stick to the service road to go up and down, so you have a good chance of having the whole trail on the south side of Shaw Butte all to yourself. No jostling with other people. No stepping to the side to let someone who's doing their third consecutive ascent whiz right past you. Just you. At whichever pace you want to go.
This is by no means minimizing Camelback or Piestewa Peak, because they're awesome hikes in their own right, but Shaw Butte and other north Phoenix trails bring me back to appreciating hiking and exploring again. At least in the city. Sure, they're nowhere near as tall, intense, eyecatching or crowded as the big guys, but they're still sitting there as part of the Phoenix Mountain Reserve, so why not hit 'em once in a while? It pays to mix it up now and then.
4 stars.
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