Transmission Ridge - South Mountain, AZ

Similarly to the Guadalupe Ridge - AKA Midlife Crisis / Scott, this is not an officially recognized South Mountain Park/Preserve trail, but it is definitely a trail that neighborhood hikers, dog walkers and runners use regularly. There aren't any do not enter or keep out revegetation area signs posted at the Desert Classic spur.


The route essentially follows mostly below the obvious transmission lines that provide power to some of the TV sites on Mount Suappoa. It's about a three-quarter mile uphill trek to where the trail peters-out on a prominent ridge, so a roundtrip jaunt from the DC junction would only be about a mile and a half total. Some of the Sonoran's arid desert plants are represented well on these sunny southern slopes of SoMo, most notably some charming Torote trees along the route.The closest and easiest public access point is from the Desert Foothills Trailhead. From there, follow the Telegraph Pass Trail north less than a half mile to the Desert Classic, then southeast to the crossover junction at a major wash. I thought there was a mangled vehicle from a suicide somewhere in a drainage up near this trail's northern terminus, but I did not see it or spend time searching for it either. Perhaps the macabre scene has since been erased.

2024-01-10 pseudalpine