Nice little hike. I did this because I didn't find out about Echo Canyon until I was in my hotel room that night. But it was enjoyable, great scenery, enough of those little educational placards to let you know what you were looking at. I liked Echo Canyon a lot better, but that is not a hike for everyone.
This is a great alternative to attempting the hike up Camelback Mountain. You are able to drive up the super fun windy road right to the top for a stunning view of the whole valley and all the surrounding area. While we did not hike any of the trials we say many different areas where you could park and go on a hike.
I love this park. When you enter a trail, you leave the city behind. Walking trails have ranges of elevation gain to accommodate all levels of hikers. Equestrian and mountain biking is popular here too. I recommend researching South Mountain Park on the web to get general trail info.
We set out at 7 a.m. in mid-April. The sun was already hot. We had chosen to walk the Javelina Canyon and Ridgeline trails, shown on Alltrails.com. It is marked on that site as 3.4 miles. On mapmywalk.com it turned out to be 4.1 miles. That extra distance could be a struggle for some in the hot Arizona sun. DO START EARLY! The parking lot at the end of S 46th Street, off E Baseline was already busy before 7 a.m. The Canyon trails, both Javelina and Beverly, are busy with mountain bikers. In the main, they were polite and careful, but they were constant, so one needs to keep an eye out. We chose to walk in a counter-clockwise direction, going along Javelina and back on Ridgeline. This worked if one could become demoralised by the roller-coaster that is the Ridgeline trail. But if your energy peaks early, it might be best to go up the ridge first and walk the gentler slope of the canyon back to the car. There is no shade, bar a few handy little saplings and a couple of rocky outcrops. Wear sunscreen! Pack water. We saw several coyotes which seemed unconcerned by humans nearby. There was plenty of birdsong. We were sorry not to have been there a month earlier when the flowers would have been lovely.
I drove through some of the park (it is very large) and up to Lookout Point via a winding mountainous road. The location gives one a panramic view of the city. The drive is scenic with wonderful desert landscapes including saguaros and occasional desert wildlife.
