Everyone who visits Phoenix knows about Camelback mountain. But just a few miles northwest you can find Piestewa Peak and the mountain preserves. Piestewa Peak, although a difficult trail with lots of elevation gain, is generally considered easier than Camelback mountain.
One of the highlights of Piestewa Peak are the other trails that surround it in the preserve. Although Piestewa Peak is a difficult trail, there are many other trails in the preserve that are easy or moderate.
Parking
There are a few parking lots in the mountain preserve, but to start as close to the trail head as possible, I recommend parking in a parking lot on Piestewa Peak Dr. There are a few parking lots on this drive, all near the trail head. I parked in the first lot and it added about an 1/8 mile to my hike. Do not park at the Quarts Ridge parking lot unless you aim to complete a different trail.
The Trail
The trail starts off at a steady incline, but relatively easy if you are able to climb stairs. The trail resembles stairs for roughly half of the hike. Unlike Echo Canyon Trail (Camelback) Piestewa Peak offers wonderful views the entire hike.
There is also an amazing lookout half way up that makes for a cool picture (seen left).
As you get closer to the top the stairs disappear and the trail becomes more rocky and dusty. The trail levels off a few times which makes timing breaks easier.
There are a few friendly squirrels on this trail. One even walked up to my camera as I filmed it. As a general rule, please do not feed the wildlife.
The Peak
The peak offers just about 360° views of the Phoenix area. If you are willing to climb a little further to the actual peak (pictured below), you will get a true, 360° view. However the peak is made up of jagged rocks and can be dangerous to climb. I found that the lookout just below the peak was plenty beautiful (pictured at the top).
If you are looking for a hike in the Phoenix area, this is a great option. If you would like to look into others I recommend reading my posts about Fat Man’s Pass, Echo Canyon, and Siphon Draw.
