HikeArizona.COM

I'm moving back to Phoenix within the next month or so and wanted to find out about peak bagging or scrambling within a 2-3 hour drive of Phoenix. Currently live in Idaho and have been trying to do alpine climbs every weekend this summer. This is an activity I really did not do when I lived in Phoenix before. So where should I start when I come back to town?

I have a huge capacity to suffer and put in long day hikes, so looking for off the beaten path climbs. If in Arizona I guess I need to start adding canyons to my list of places to hit as well. I've already done GC rim to rim a few times, so need a new challenge.

Will also need some hiking partners as well, so chime in if you want to be a tour guide this year.

here are a few to get you started

Get off the beaten path in Grand Canyon. Forget that tourist R2R "challenge" thing. I prefer fall, winter and spring for those hikes, though.

The TrailDex is a powerful search feature.

Here I've populated the map, with the only criteria being "peak".
http://hikearizona.com/map.php?QX=1982

You can narrow it down by zooming in, or selecting any of the available options (you might want to start with upping the lower end of your elevation or mileage preferences from 0 to something harder). Changing the season preferences may help too since it can get hot here at this time of year

In the high-country, the popular summer hikes are any part of the SF Peaks, Humphreys, Weatherford, and Inner Basin. The White Mtns are more than 3 hrs from Phoenix so I won't mention those. Prescott has Spruce and Granite Mountains. Tucson has Lemmon and some others, and then there's the sky islands south and east of Tucson, some which push the 3-hr range. The Sierra Ancha are a rugged range topping out at Aztec Peak.

In the valley you have smaller peaks, some more popular or easy than others (Camelback, Piestewa, So Mtn, Pinnacle, etc.), but mostly all early morning hikes at this time of year.

Of course there's Four Peaks, but that is also a little tough at this time of year.

And I agree with your thoughts on canyons. Get to know them!

Welcome back!
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edit: as I was typing, Joe beat me to it.

Thanks for the tips so far. I used to live 10 minutes away from the North Mountain Preserve and went trail running or hiking there 2-3 mornings a week. Will probably move back to the same general area. So I have my training routes already established.

The closest alpine peaks to Boise are 2.5 hours away in the Sun Valley area. There are a ton of peaks that are closer, but if you want to get over 10,000 feet you have to do some driving. So going to Flagstaff 1-2 times a month in the summer is not that big of a deal, especially if I live in north Phoenix. Plus I have never spent much time in Sedona. Will have to actually get out of my car and check out the climbing this fall.

@SpiderLegs when are you moving back down? I trail run South Mtn every saturday morning or so. Hoping to start working on my uphills via Squaw Peak again, if you ever need a hiking buddy I can go the distance, literally!
My best friend and I set up a lot of group hikes nowadays so hope you can join us for some of our Supes hikes.
Agree with Chumley, traildex is fantastic fun to poke around

I'm moving down next weekend and will be up in the Anthem area for a few weeks until I find work/place to live. So I will be looking for a nice 4-6 hour hike with a class 3 finish here pretty soon.

It's going to be tough heading back to the desert, I was still doing 1/4 mile snow traverses last weekend up here in Idaho.

More than likely will be settling into north Phoenix someplace, so will be looking for trail running partners and hikers up in those areas.

@SpiderLegs my neck of the woods, hit me up when you're ready, GOYAAH and I plan crazy hikes often and I run South Mountain on saturdays, and TBird mtn in Peoria is a favorite though I never get out there anymore, anyone who wants to go for a hike/run is usually closer to downtown phx, ugh

Will be back in Phoenix on Sunday, so need a few weeks to get established and focus on job search. Have 2-3 interviews lined up already, so hope my job search is short. Used to live close to North Mountain Preserve so will try to find another place nearby, it's a great place to train. Starting with all of the northside and westside peaks and trails first, so if you have personal faves you want to enlighten me on that would be great.

Read the disclaimer about hikes with solitude, water and easy access on the top of the forum page. So made sure I knocked out one last hike yesterday that had all three with my dog. Fifteen miles of following a creek bed with running water, ran into only two people and 4 miles from downtown Boise. Got that out of my system and ready for some desert hiking and climbing again.

"I have a huge capacity to suffer and put in long day hikes"

You need to hook up with juanjaime!

SpiderLegs wrote:Read the disclaimer about... So made sure I knocked out one last hike yesterday that had all three with my dog

Looks lush but deceiving, once you get 10 yards on either side of the trail it is dryer than anything in Phoenix right now. Plus only 10 degrees cooler up here.

SpiderLegs wrote:Read the disclaimer about hikes with solitude, water and easy access on the top of the forum page. So made sure I knocked out one last hike yesterday that had all three with my dog. Fifteen miles of following a creek bed with running water, ran into only two people

If you don't mind the drive, the Pinaleno Range can give you 10,000 feet peak bagging, canyons with wonderful flowing water and waterfalls, easy access to most of the TH's and even on a weekend, solitude is almost guaranteed on the Trails...And Dogs are allowed. Rather than fill this up with Description shortcuts, just go to my profile page and read the most current page. I spent a week down there. And I've been there 3 times since May....Depending on where you end up living in Phoenix, the City of Safford is roughly 3 hours from Phoenix. To go all the way up to the end of the Swift Trail with tons of Hikes in between is roughly another 1 1/2 hours, (depending on how you drive ) but you can start your first short Canyon/Flowing Water Hike within 30 minutes of leaving downtown Safford....

You probably are not going to be acclimated/motivated to start doing Desert Hikes yet. It's still pretty hot here. At least not long ones and not in the middle of the day....

Outdoor Lover wrote:

SpiderLegs wrote: It's still pretty hot here. At least not long ones and not in the middle of the day....

it is?!