By Ethan Kispert
Preparing for that weekend hiking trip but worried about construction impacting your plans? Don’t fret as there are still plenty of areas for hikers to park and enjoy the sunny weather despite local construction.
Signs that have been posted in various areas, such as one that’s at the 32nd Street Trailhead, mention areas where hikers can go and park their cars. The 32nd Street Trailhead sign, more specifically, recommends that people who want to hike should park in either the 32nd Street Trailhead lot or at the Summit Trailhead lot. What the sign fails to do is to let hikers know of other available areas to park aside from the Summit Trailhead lot.
If both the 32nd Street Trailhead and the Summit Trailhead lots are full, there are other options. According to mapping from Phoenix’s city website, both the Hopi and Apache parking areas will be under construction until spring 2021 and summer 2022 respectively. For hikers that want to get out for the day, that leaves them with three other options when accessing the Piestewa Peak.
While driving up northward along Squaw Peak Drive, drivers can choose to park in the Navajo, Mojave, or the unnamed parking area 1. All three of these parking areas give hikers direct access to Piestewa Peak.
For hikers that will be entering the northern side of the park, there are a couple options to choose from. These options are both the Dreamy Draw Parking Area and the 40th Street Parking Area. It’s important to remember when utilizing these areas is that hikers will have to head south a bit to connect with the trailheads that lead to Piestewa Peak.
For the time being, the listed parking areas remain as the primary means of accessing the various trailheads at the Phoenix Mountains Preserve. Hikers, however, can access the trails from all sides of the preserve, and even through neighboring communities and other trailheads nearby.
Below are maps from the city of Phoenix’s website that detail the various access points available for hikers.
For more info on where to park and how to access the trailheads, visit phoenix.gov.
