Owl Hoot Trail - MSPN, AZ

The Owl Hoot Trail is located in the northwest corner of the northern Scottsdale McDowell Sonoran Preserve. It junctions with the Stagecoach Trail on its eastern terminus and heads west until it ends at the Legend Trail Parkway in Scottsdale. The maps available online list this trail as the Owl Hoot Trail, but the signage at each end only refers to it as the “Neighborhood Access Trail to Legend Trail Parkway.”

The trail is approximately 1.4-miles long and, while mostly level, has quite a few small dips and climbs over the terrain. Access from the Brown’s Ranch TH is the closest unless you drive to the north end and drive in from Bartlett Lake Road and FR2090 to the access point on the north border and take the Stagecoach Trail from there.

The trail starts fairly straight westbound, then begins to meander to the north and south. The views to the south are of the McDowell Mountains, Pinnacle Peak, and metro Phoenix. To the north Elephant Mt. and New River Mesa are prominent. After about a half-mile, a subdivision is within view to the south. The last half mile or more of the trail it zig-zags quite a bit, probably designed more for mountain bikers than hikers. After recent rains, there were some deeper tire marks evident.

Vegetation is typically sparse Sonoran desert flora; brittlebush, chollas, saguaros, yuccas, and palo verdes. Not many mesquite trees in this area it seemed. Vegetation is light enough to keep the faraway views of the mountains intact but dense enough to obscure the subdivision.

The trail ends after 1.4-miles at the Legend Trail Parkway. A return route can be done the way you came in, or take the Legend Parkway south and loop back to Brown’s Ranch Road TH by taking the Malpais Trail where it comes out on the parkway.

Check out the Official Route and Triplog.

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2020-04-07 DarthStiller