The first day of autumn marked the unofficial start of peak hiking season in Greater Phoenix. To help Phoenix visitors (and locals) make informed decisions during the next eight months of hiking bliss, Visit Phoenix has published a new edition of its Phoenix Trail Guide.
This free, pocket-sized guide provides basic information about more than 140 trails managed by the City of Phoenix, Maricopa County and the City of Scottsdale.
Among the new guide’s contents:
- Trail recommendations from local outfitters (in the categories of “Easy,” “Moderate” and “Challenging”)
- Information about guided hiking tours
- Information about trails open to dogs, horses and/or mountain bikes
- Tips about safety precautions and trail etiquette
- Suggestions for hiking trips to other parts of Arizona
The Phoenix Trail Guide is available to guests at more than 30 hotels and resorts in the Phoenix area, and a digital version can be downloaded at visitphoenix.com.
Visitors to downtown Phoenix can pick up a free trail guide at Visit Phoenix’s official Visitor Information Center—open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., at 125 N. 2nd St—or from one of the orange-shirted Downtown Phoenix Ambassadors who serve as sidewalk concierges seven days a week.
“For those of us who are too sleepy-headed to go hiking at sunrise during the summer months, this is the time of year when we re-introduce ourselves to our favorite trails and maybe try out some new ones,” Visit Phoenix spokesperson Scott Dunn said. “This guide simplifies the decision-making process for visiting hikers, because there are a ton of trails out there.”
Dunn pointed out that Greater Phoenix is home to more recreational open space—nearly 190,000 acres—than any other major metropolis in the United States. “To put that in perspective,” he said, “if you piled together all the mountain parks in metro Phoenix, they wouldn’t fit within the city limits of Chicago—and you could just barely squeeze them into the geographical footprint of New York City.”
