Hike #34 - Piestawa Peak - 304/8B/8A/202/200A Loop Trail Phoenix AZ

Hike #34

Date: April 22, 2014 

Location: Phoenix AZ

Hikers: Me & Tina 

Directions:  

51 to Glendale/Lincoln Ave.  East on Lincoln Ave. Take a left at the second light on to 2701 E Squaw Peak Drive. For this hike I parked at the far end of the park. Water and Restrooms. 

Piestawa Peak  Trailhead:
http://phoenix.gov/webcms/groups/internet/@inter/@rec/@parks/@parks/@nrd/documents/web_content/northlarge.pdf

Piestawa Peak (formally known as Squaw Peak) is one of the valleys favorite hiking places.  The summit trail is packed.  I am not fond of the trail because it is too crowded with the people that are running up or down.  I like isolated spots. 

I have hiked all of the trails in this area over the years.  But today I am doing a nice butt buster backwards.  Since I have never done it in this direction we decided I could call it new.  :)

Tina and I decided to meet afterwork and we wanted a challenging hike.  It was a little hot and windy on this day but we had plenty of sun still left. 

We headed north on the 304 to the right.  We quickly hit the 8B juncture and headed up the hill.  This trail gives you a work out as it heads up to a saddle.  At the top of the hill is a bench.

 You can not beat the view in this area.  Piestawa Peak view from the North West.  We have not seen a soul. If you hike the summit you hike with your favorite 50 friends. Why not try the other side?

We headed down to another junction area and took 8A south towards Lincoln Ave direction.  Keeping with trying to include history about the trails I hike.









Ruth Hamilton has a trail named after her.  Ruth was an advocate for protecting the open space in Phoenix. This article below talks of her life coming to Arizona in 1963 and having strong values for women and being a big traveler.  I am impressed! My kind of woman.  She died at the age of 96.
http://archive.azcentral.com/commphotos/news/the-life-of-ruth-hamilton.html

Trail heading towards Lincoln Drive












We hit the 202 loop that heads you back up the summit to the horse railing. When you go up in this direction there is another summit loop off to the right.  Because we have never gone this way and I could not remember we tried to figure out which way to go.

Tina went up and I went toward the West.  Ding Ding.  I was the winner.  Tina turned around and headed back in my direction.

View towards the City. Hazy from Pollution

We went down the hill and picked up the 200A trail to the parking lot and walked up the street back to our car. The view from this smaller summit is impressive.  You can see people on the top of Piestawa Peak. You can see one of the trails from the North Parking lot.

We always have fun hiking.
Who says Horse railings are for horses? This is a payback picture since Tina took me doing this last time we hiked this trail from the other Ramada.

This loop was a little under 3.5 miles.  It gives a good cardio workout with two hills. It was windy and hot and that slowed us down a little.  We did it in 1 hour 17 minutes.  It is a great training hike for the Grand Canyon.  Challenging and no one is on the trail with us.  I love these type of trails.

Hike #34 done. Check it off!