Sunrise Trail

As the weather progressively gets warmer, there are two ways to get in a good hike:  Drive out of town to cooler climes or get up early and get out in the desert.

It is still cool enough in the desert to make that choice, but getting out while the sun is still sleepy makes the experience more comfortable.

The hike we chose for this issue was the Sunrise Trail, which is just over the hill from Fountain Hills:  Take Shea west to 136th Street, turn north and go to Via Linda, turning back east and following the road to 145th Way.  This is part of the McDowell Sonoran Preserve.

Here is the dilemma you could find on a (relatively) early Sunday morning:  If you don’t get up early enough, you will find no parking.  We drove up from the Valley, arriving at the trailhead at about 7:30 a.m. after a pleasant half-hour drive.  But no kidding:  There was no parking. 

The Sunrise Trail has two parking lots:  the upper lot has space for 23 passenger cars, while the lower lot has spots for 14 cars and four horse trailers.  Roadside parking is not allowed.

Plan B:  Drive back down Shea to Tatum, turn south to the Charles M. Christiansen Memorial Trail. This trailhead has a small parking lot.  There were no parking places.

Plan C:  Turn around and go north on Tatum to Shea.  Turn west to 40th Street.  Travel straight down 40th to the end – this is the Quartz Ridge Trail.  This trailhead has a huge parking lot, with even enough space for horse trailers.  Guess what?  There were places to park along the road, however, when that parking lot is full and cars are parking on the road, you can bet we don’t particularly want to hike on that trail.  Too many people.

Plan D:  back up 40th Street to Ocotillo. West, wind around a bit, see a lot of big houses, drive down another street and voila! Another little spot in the Phoenix Mountain Preserves where there are two other cars parked.  This is the center of the Christiansen Trail.  We kind of don’t want to tell you where that is, but it is a public trail, so – when you are on Ocotillo, you are meandering to get to 38th Street, which dead ends and you will find a few parking spots – all of them empty.

The Christiansen Trail at this point offers a mild hike.  It is flat, with a slight incline.  As you progress in to the preserve, you have numerous choices for the kind of hike you want to do.  Christiansen is flat, but there are great aerobic parts of this trail, which is 10.7 miles in its entirety. 

The 12-year-old in our hiking party of two was just getting over a cold and didn’t feel like going a long way or doing a strenuous hike.  We stayed on the flats and experienced a wonderful hour-long walk.

Yellow is the predominant flower color, but most of the blues and reds that were so astonishing this spring are dried.  Brittlebush is still blooming, and there are still places where desert dandelion are prolific. The creosote bushes have answered the rain with heavy yellow blooms.  Palo Verde trees soon will add more yellow to the landscape, and smoke trees with their pinkish blooms aren’t far behind.  Cactus flowers are appearing, so while the breathtaking flowers are nearly gone, the desert still offers its special enchantment.

Wild animals are out and about.  We ran across several lizards, including two chuckwallas.  Chuckwallas are good sized, (five to eight inches in length), so they make a pretty big noise when they run through the brush.  Of course we were certain both times that a rattlesnake was coming for us.  We saw nary a snake.

There were lots of Gambel’s quail about, but babies weren’t hatched yet.  We also saw two different types of hummingbirds, numerous mockingbirds, a couple of female phainopeplas and white-winged and mourning doves.

While the hike this month was only about a mile in length, we still took two quarts of water each.  We saw a couple of people hiking without water; this is just not a good idea, no matter how short your walk may be. 

Urban hikes give you a sense of security about sunscreen, hats and water.  Above you are airplanes.  In the near distance are houses and cars.  You think you are just minutes away from “civilization.”  But if you are hiking in the desert, you need to bring water.   And drink it. 

Another thought as the land gets more arid:  This is going to be a tough fire season.  The low brush is unbelievably dry already.  Remember:  “Only you can prevent wildfires.”  Please use caution when you are out in the world. 

Enjoy it all you can.  Just get up earlier if you want a parking place.

This hike was first featured May 2005 and revised February 2007.