Whether you’re looking for easy trails brimming with photo ops or challenging tracks that will give you a great workout, you’ll find your perfect hike in Scottsdale. Here are a handful of local favorites to get you started:

Best Scenic Views

  • Easy: The Lost Dog Wash Trail in Scottsdale’s McDowell Sonoran Preserve provides expansive East Valley views from the Lost Dog Overlook, which was an ancient Native American tool-making site. In spring, this trail is often awash with wildflowers.
  • Difficult: The Preserve also is home to Tom’s Thumb Trail, a challenging scenic track that climbs more than 1,300 feet in 2.5 miles through a wonderland of huge boulders. The trail offers excellent views of Tom’s Thumb, the most recognizable feature in the Preserve and a popular spot for rock climbers.

Great for Working Up a Sweat

  • In central Scottsdale, Camelback Mountain’s Cholla and Echo Canyon summit trails reward hearty hikers with intense workouts and panoramic city views.
  • The Sunrise Peak Trail in Scottsdale’s McDowell Sonoran Preserve climbs 1,100 feet in about 2.5 miles. The views of the Valley are magnificent.

Ideal for Families

  • The Bajada Trail at the Gateway to Scottsdale’s McDowell Sonoran Preserve is an easy 1/2-mile interpretive loop that’s family-friendly and ADA accessible. Add a short walk on the Saguaro Loop Trail to give kids a little more time out in the desert.

Best Wildflower Views

  • The Preserve’s Quartz Trail follows a large desert wash slowly uphill through a beautiful development for two miles and into the Preserve. This cool, shady, slightly wetter wash often produces a great variety of wildflowers.

Most Dog-Friendly

  • All of the trails in Scottsdale’s McDowell Sonoran Preserve are open to hikers and their four-legged friends. Keep in mind that dogs, like people, have varying degrees of physical fitness so choose a trail that matches both your and your dog’s abilities.

Best for Birding

  • Wash trails that boast lots of vegetation can offer excellent opportunities to see various kinds of desert birds. As noted above for wildflowers, the Preserve’s Quartz Trail follows a large wash into the Preserve where a left turn takes you along the wash bank and then down into the wash through an area that gets progressively narrower and more interesting. There are unusual rock formations and vegetation all along the way.

Great Hiking/Climbing Combos

  • Pinnacle Peak Park offers breathtaking north Scottsdale views from its summit trail as well as a variety of traditional crack and bolted climbing routes on the namesake 200-foot granite peak and other formations like Cactus Flower and Y-Crack Boulder.
  • In Scottsdale’s McDowell Sonoran Preserve, Tom’s Thumb is a 150-foot granite pinnacle offering excellent cracks of all grades. The hike to Tom’s Thumb is strenuous and steep, but the breathtaking scenic views are worth the effort.

Stellar Sunrise Hikes

  • Head out on the Bell Pass or Windgate Pass trails from the Gateway when Scottsdale’s McDowell Sonoran Preserve opens at sunrise and you’ll be rewarded with a great workout and stellar eastward views to Four Peaks and beyond.

Good for Strolling

  • If you’d like to experience Sonoran Desert flora and fauna in a more urban setting, check out the Desert Botanical Garden’s five thematic paths, which illustrate topics like desert wildflowers, conservation, desert living, and plants and people of the Sonoran Desert. You’ll experience the beauty of desert flora and fauna within arm’s reach of urban amenities like the Garden Shop and Patio Café.

Most Culturally/Historically Significant

  • The Lost Dog Overlook, located along its namesake trail, is a well-documented Native American tool-making site. The tall, steep banks of the wash were used by hunters to ambush large game animals, like deer, passing through the wash below.

Now that you’ve found your best hike, check out these helpful tips to Know Before You Go!

For more information:

McDowell Sonoran Conservancy: 480-998-7971
Camelback Mountain: 602 261-8318
Pinnacle Peak Park: 480-312-0990
Desert Botanical Garden: 480-941-1225