March 3, 2022

By Tim Briese

1.7 miles, 600’ elevation gain, 1:00 roundtrip time

My daughter Nicole, son-in-law Rod, and I wanted to do a short workout one morning on our visit to the Phoenix area and we headed to North Mountain Park to climb North Mountain. From the trailhead parking area one can either go up a rocky trail on the southeast ridge or take a second route partway up a steep trail and then walk a paved road on up to the summit. We chose the latter. There is an array of communication towers on the summit which explains the need for the nice road to the top.

rod walking across the parking area toward the trail, in the center

Numerous urban peaks like this one in the Phoenix area are very popular and we saw scores of other hikers going up and down the peak.

a view toward the southeast as we neared the summit.  piestewa peak is a little to the left of center.

approaching the summit

In a little under 30 minutes we reached the top and enjoyed the splendid views that this vantage point afforded.

nicole and rod on the summit.  a couple of days before they climbed piestewa peak, which is to the left

view to the west from the summit

view to the northeast toward scottsdale, with the mcdowell mountains beyond

After a few minutes on top we clipped back down to the trailhead.