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| | | North Mountain Phoenix Preserve, AZ | | | |
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North Mountain Phoenix Preserve, AZ
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| Hiking | 7.62 Miles |
1,693 AEG |
| | Hiking | 7.62 Miles | 2 Hrs 42 Mns | | 2.82 mph |
| 1,693 ft AEG | | 5 LBS Pack | | |
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| no partners | | What looked like a pretty straight-forward hike turned into a nice bit of exploration. Starting from the Peoria ave parking lot and working in a clockwise motion, I tackled Shaw Butte first. The trail was steep in sections, but for most part nothing too difficult. Once up on the ridge followed the service road up to the top then back down to north side of preserve. Continued on and intersected the Charles Christiansen trail 100 and headed towards the visitor center before back tracking to head south for the loop up to North Mountain. Turns out the service road up to North Mountain is closed. So, I continued south on trail 100 before finding the backside of the described loop to start my assent to the top. The trail is not one of the more popular ones and I got a side tracked a couple of times, but nothing too bad. The climb to North Mountain was steep, rocky, and loose. Pleasantly surprising. Once on top headed down the south side which was just as steep.
Overall, an great hike! And like everyone on this forum knows, March is a heck of a time to be outside in the Valley of the Sun. The sky was a deep cobalt blue with thin whispy clouds streaking across the sky. The sun was warm, but not hot, and the oh so slight chill on the air made the hiking weather just about perfect as perfect can be. Enjoy!! |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
Enjoy!
Mainly due to a late start. But in any case, trail is awesome. Very beautiful walk along and in the creek and under large cottenwoods. Many campsites along the creek for backpackers to take advantage of. There is a lot of walking in the creek, often times it is simply the easiest route, so definitely recommend doing the hike with water shoes and carry regular shoes and socks in your pack. The creek was flowing pretty good, presumably from the recent rains. Along the trail the evidence of those rains was clear from grass/reeds laid flat and high water marks that suggest the water got to be 6' high in places. I highly recommend this trail, and will most certainly be back to complete it!
