Hike #30 - Shadow Mountain - Phoenix AZ

Hike #30

Date: April 12, 2014 

Location: Phoenix AZ

Hikers: Me & Jim

Directions:  
51 North to Greenway Parkway, Head West towards. take a slight left onto Greenway Rd. Turn right on 27th street and right on Acoma Drive.  There is a trailhead. Park in front of the trailhead. Neighborhood street area, park where permitted. Water and No Restrooms. 

Shadow Mountain/Lookout Mountain: 

http://phoenix.gov/parks/trails/locations/lookout/hiking/

Today is a quikie hike.  Tomorrow we plan a longer hike so we are going to hit Shadow Mountain that is next to Lookout (our old favorite). We have never hiked Shadow.  There is a circumference trail but from what I read there are alot of side trails that you can zip around for a short hike.  This is part of the Phoenix Preserve.  It is in the middle of the valley.  They say the rocks are similar to the White Tanks but the mountain has been pillaged of all the cactus and vegetation.

The trailhead is handicap accessible.  There is a ramp before you hit the trailhead.  I wonder why there is a ramp.  I googled the area to see if there was something about it.  Nothing!  I wonder if it is a neighborhood thing?






Below is the view up to Shadow Mountain. The elevation is not great.  This is not a trail if you are looking for a butt buster hike.  It is just a nice hike!

 There is a water fountain just beyond the trailhead.  Strange that it is located into the trail.  Must be a reason for it.  We did not check to see if it worked.  The view back to the north shows the mountains that we have hiked in the Sonoran preserve.  It is nice to drive by all these mountains knowing that we have put our tracks on them.

We headed to the west on what I think is the circumference trail. There are no markers so far.

We then headed up.  (we tend to do that).  This took us up to a water tower.





If we were planning to do the circumference this is where we took a wrong turn.  We should have stayed low and west.  This was cool though. We headed up slightly.  Jim came me the history of water towers and why they are now sealed.

At the top of the hill we finally see a trail marker.  With no information.  So we headed East and took another loop down.

 We did a few ups and downs on the east side.  Since we were waiting for Jim's car to be serviced we decided to stay on the north side and just zip around, then hit the street back to the car.

These steps took us to 27th Street.  There are very nice homes in this area.  We hit the road and took it back to acoma.  Got the call that Jim's car was ready so it was perfect timing!   

 Very quick hike. Less than 2 miles for 33 minutes.  Hey it is new though!! Hike #30  Check it off!