Lost Dog Wash Trail

There is no question that Arizona has some of the best hiking in the country. No matter which direction you go, you are sure to find a trail that suits you.

The great thing about it is, you don’t even have to go far to find such a trail.

The Lost Dog Wash area trails are smack in the middle of suburbia. The trailhead has been relocated to 124th Street just north of Cactus Road. As part of the McDowell Sonoran Preserve, this desert oasis provides you with a sense that you are far from the madding crowds. The problem is, since the trail system is right in the middle of suburbia, the crowds are pretty madding, all right.

We took a little walk the day after the City of Scottsdale and the McDowell Sonoran Conservancy dedicated the access area. More than 100 people showed up for the morning of activities, but we wanted a little more solace. Sunday morning, May 21, was relatively quiet. We passed, or were passed, by a few mountain bikes, some walkers and one really chipper guy running with his dog. Since it was just past 6 o’clock, and already warming up, the crowds were manageable.

The trailhead, which has served as an unofficial entry point to the preserve for years, has been improved and no doubt will become an even more popular place for hikers, bikers and horseback riders. The Lost Dog Wash area is the second official entry point to the preserve. The first opened in March 2005 at the Sunrise Trailhead. That jumping-off place is less elaborate than the Lost Dog Wash – it has a limited number of parking spaces and amenities

We took the Lost Dog Wash trail, a walk with such a gradual incline that you don’t notice an increase in elevation. It is a nice walk, and the trail has been well-maintained. If you take the Sunrise Trail fork, you will get a better workout. We walked just a short ways up the Sunrise fork, just to check it out. It, too, has a great, well-kept trail. It’s just harder to do than the flatter Lost Dog.

The trail system is well marked, and you can make your decision on what kind of hike you want to do just by looking. Lost Dog Wash is not the prettiest hike. Sunrise takes you into a lusher, rockier part of the preserve. While Lost Dog has plenty of Palo Verde, ironwood, ocotillo and a variety of cacti, the primary flora is grass. With the drought solidly in place, the aridity of the area is pretty frightening. The trails likely will be closed before too long; it will be too risky to let people walk through the preserve – and lightning will provide enough of a challenge as we get to that part of the year.

This year’s wildflowers weren’t great since we didn’t have the requisite mid-winter rains, but the late winter rain created perfect conditions for desert trees. I don’t remember the Palo Verde trees being as bright as they were this year, and I thought the ironwoods were amazing. Now the saguaros are in bloom, so we didn’t miss much in the way of flowers. We just didn’t get the carpet of color we all love so much.

Hiking on urban trails (or more accurately, suburban) provides so many people with the opportunity to experience this wonderful Sonoran Desert. We really have to thank the McDowell Sonoran Conservancy folks for working so hard to keep a little bit of the desert free of human development.

You aren’t exactly out in the middle of nowhere when trekking along the Lost Dog Wash trails, but if you keep your eyes ahead, and focus your ears on the songs of birds (and not the planes overhead), you can pretend that you are miles from nowhere.

This hike was first featured June 2006.