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Home » Travel » Arizona Hiking (and a Museum)

Arizona Hiking (and a Museum)

June 29, 2012 by KC Coake 10 Comments

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While we were in Arizona, I wanted to get my fill of hiking. On mountains! (Yes, people where I live have asked me if I am referring to an elevation change when I talk about hiking…yes that is what I mean. I don’t mean a paved walk in the woods.) I miss having mountains around me and hiking available within a very short drive. I also miss real Mexican food (which I ate plenty of…no worries), but that has nothing to do with this post.

Trail 304 (Phoenix)

One of the hikes we choose was in the Piestewa peak area (when I was growing up it was called Squaw peak… I am working to call it by its new name…Yay me!). My mom and I used to hike Trail 304 a lot when I was younger. It is a good hike for the kid set as it is not too hard, but they get out there, see nature and get to do a good hill at the end, at least if you travel the loop in the same direction we did. You can see above Snowflake was super proud of herself for making it up the hill. Pumpkin was too tired and hot to give a real ‘I did it!’
Our hiking crew.

Here is the City of Phoenix’s official information about this trail. Oh and on a trip down memory lane, I took a field trip in 4th grade to this trail where we looked at the dessert plants and drew pictures of them….aren’t you glad to know that!

Moderate- Mostly smooth, variable widthTrail #304 – Nature Trail
Length: 1.52 miles
Elevation: 1,790 ft. – 1,610 ft.
Multi-use trail
Difficulty: Easy to moderate
The trailhead is located at the Apache picnic area at the end of the entrance road in Phoenix Mountains Park and Recreation Area. Paved parking, drinking water and restrooms are available.
The Nature and Freedom trails traverse together about 1/2 mile where the Nature Trail turns right with Trail #1A for a short distance and then turns sharply to the right just past the deep wash. The trail then ascends to a saddle where Trail #8 intersects the Nature Trail, goes down the hill and ends at the Apache picnic area just off from the trailhead.

Trail 300 (Phoenix)

On a different day, earlier in the morning so as to beat the heat, We headed up the Piestewa Peak Summit trail(Trail 300). I have hiked this trail more times than I can count. It was the trail my mom used as my training for hiking the Grand Canyon from rim to rim when I was in 8th grade. Or as I call it, the way I was forced to earn my first cat…aren’t kid’s memories so kind to their parents?! Oy, this is what I have to look forward to….anyway.
I am in the best shape I have been in as an adult, so I was looking forward to this hike. Not only to see if I could do it(I wasn’t sure how my IT band would hold up), but because it is a real hike and a challenging hike. Like I said, I wanted to get some real hiking in.
In the picture above, on the left you can see the views from the summit point at Piestewa Peak. You really get a 360 degree view of Phoenix from the summit. On the right, you can see the last part of the trail. It is really rocky up there and becomes much less of a path and more of climbing over and up rocks.
I made it to the summit first. My mom, made it up to the point pictured above which becomes the rocky part.  My cousin, her son and my uncle also made it to the top. Little ‘J’ made it the whole way….Amazing!

I found my mom on my way down. Some kind stranger took our picture as I was clearly butchering my attempts at doing the picture taking with the phone stuck out in front of our faces. Thank you kind stranger. I felt like such a tourist…but I guess I am now. Weird…

Here is the official City of Phoenix information about this trail

Difficult- long rocky segments with possible drops & exposureTrail #300 – Summit Trail
Length: 1.2 miles
Elevation: 2,608 ft. – 1,400 ft. (hikers gain more than 1,200 feet in elevation on this trail)
Hiking trail only
Difficulty: Strenuous and Difficult
The trailhead is located in the parking lot at the first driveway on the left in Phoenix Mountains Park and Recreation Area. To reach the trail to the summit of Piestewa Peak, turn east on Squaw Peak Drive from Lincoln Drive between 22nd and 24th streets. Paved parking, drinking water and restrooms are available.
The trail to the summit of Piestewa Peak was first constructed by a wrangler employed at the Biltmore Hotel sometime around 1930. Now, it is one of the most heavily used trails in the nation with 4,000 to 10,000 hikers per week. The trail ascends Piestewa Peak to the highest point in the park. Dogs and bicycles are not permitted on the Summit Trail.

Trail 100 (Phoenix)

I don’t have any pictures from Trail 100, but I wanted to tell you about it. My cousin and I went running on this trail one morning. Or rather she tried to run and I kept getting side stitches and stomach cramps, which I never get, and I kept slowing us down. Anyway, Trail 100 is a fantastic trail if you want to go on a relatively flat hike, walk or run. My mom and I hiked this trail from start to finish back when I was a young adult and fresh out of college. It is about 11 miles from start to finish, but you can easily hike portions of the trail. Great trail!

Moderate- Mostly smooth, variable width Trail #100 – Charles M. Christiansen Memorial Trail
Length: 10.7 miles
Elevation: 2,080 ft. – 1,290 ft.
Multi-use trail
Difficulty: Easy to moderate
The trailhead is located at the north of Mountain View Park at Seventh Avenue and Cheryl Drive. A dedication plaque, benches, paved parking, drinking fountain and restrooms are available.
The Christiansen Trail is a multi-use trail that traverses the Phoenix Mountains Preserve west to east and serves as the major artery for the trail system in the Phoenix Mountains. The trail passes through tunnels at Seventh Street, Cave Creek Road and Northern Avenue avoiding any conflict with vehicular traffic.
The Christiansen Trail passes just north of the parking lot at Dreamy Draw Recreation Area, which serves as an excellent access to the trail and into the heart of the Phoenix Mountains Preserve. Paved parking, a staging area with hitching racks, horse trough, drinking fountain and restrooms are available at Dreamy Draw.
The Christiansen Trail continues east toward Piestewa Peak and intersects the Perl Charles and Quartz Ridge Trails. The trail ends at Tatum Boulevard, across from Tomahawk Drive where there is limited parking. A popular access point is at 40th Street south of Shea Boulevard where ample parking for cars and horse trailers is available.

Lamar Haines Memorial Wildlife Area (Flagstaff)

Not to be left out, we managed a hike with my brother and my nieces when we were up in Flagstaff. He took us on a great hike that the kids enjoyed as it had things to see, logs to hop over, and rocks to conquer.
You can see in the pictures above that this trail has some pictographs as well. You can also see that Uncle Kip comes well prepared with snacks for the kids! Pumpkin loved this hike. She loved jumping over all the trees and I think both my girls loved kicking the dirt around as well because while it is much more green it is still quite dry. This hike is at 8,000 ft elevation or maybe a little more, so don’t be surprised, even if you are in great shape if you have a little trouble feeling in shape and/or talking to others while walking.
Gorgeous scenery…such a contrast from the hikes down in Phoenix. This is my Brother, Pumpkin, ‘E’ and Snowflake. My brother’s other daughter was having a ‘moment’ and wasn’t in the picture. She is just as cute as all these girls in their hats to shield them from the intense sun.

This land is owned by the Arizona Game and Fish Department. Here is their official information about this hike.

LAMAR HAINES MEMORIAL WILDLIFE AREA“Two springs run here.” Although it’s impossible to know for sure, that’s the popular interpretation of the cryptic pictographs painted on the cliffs above the source of Veit and Canadian Springs on the southwest slope of Flagstaff’s Agassiz Peak. The ancient artwork is just one of many interesting sights along this woodsy trail, which is why it buries the needle on the kid-pleasing scale. Allow time to explore the ruins of homesteader Ludwig Veit’s 1890s cabin, a historical marker commemorating the work of conservationist Lamar Haines and a concrete well and pond for collecting spring water along these 160 acres of wet meadows and old growth forest.Length: 1.6-mile loopRating: easyElevation: 8,600-8,800 feet Dog rating: •••   Kid rating: ••• Distance from Phoenix: 158 miles one way (roughly 2.5 hours)Getting there: From Flagstaff, go 7.5 miles north on US 180 to milepost 223, turn right onto Snowbowl Road and drive 4.5 miles to the Lamar Haines Memorial Wildlife Area trailhead on the right. Parking is very limited.

Hall of Flame Museum (Phoenix)

While in Phoenix, we also went to the Hall of Flame Museum. My mom had read that this museum was great for kids. It was a hot day, so something indoors sounded nice.

The Hall of Flame Museum is filled with fire trucks from 1725 to 1969. They have 1 truck that the kids are allowed to play on. In the back of the museum, they also have a fire safety house.

This is a really neat museum especially if you have a Fire Fighter or Fire Engine buff in your midst. We didn’t. We didn’t linger too long over any one truck. I let my kids set the pace as we looked at the fire engines. They thought some were neat and moved quickly in other areas.

They really enjoyed the truck you could play on. That is Pumpkin driving the truck, my Dad as a ‘firefighter’ and yes that is me and Snowflake all dressed and ready to go fight a fire. Those suits are hot. I have no idea how firefighters do what they do. Thanks for doing it though!
The fire trucks from all the eras were neat to see. I would recommend this museum if you have someone interested in firefighting or someone who really loves fire trucks.

Misc.

To round out our trip to Arizona, we had some time with my Aunt and Uncle. Of course, my girls got a souvenir or two. They were both really good at choosing what they wanted to spend their money on. I’m sure for people that know us it won’t be a surprise that Pumpkin decided to wait until the last day of our trip to get a brand new Turtle that was just coming out at Build-A-Bear. She LOVES turtles. Her turtle is named ‘Shelly,’ clever name that she came up with on her own! Of course, Snowflake, who is addicted to Build-A-Bear like I am to Starbucks, got a new stuffie on our trip. Her cat is named, ‘Arizona.’
Lastly, on our trip, we flew AirTran. I had never flown with them before. They were great. We had 4 legs between our trip out and our trip back. On 3 of the legs, the flight crew invited my girls up front, let them look around, asked them questions, etc. They were so nice. On our trip home, they even let Pumpkin sit in the co-pilot’s seat and push some buttons (on the ground of course). Snowflake didn’t want to sit in the seat, so the co-pilot let her make some announcements to the full plane. She loved that and wanted to know all about what I used to say when I was a flight attendant. Which was certainly not to ‘sit down and buckle up so we can hurry up and get out of here,’ like the co-pilot told her to say…which was followed by ‘I love ice cream.’ Such nice crew! Thanks, AirTran you made the flying across the country with two young kids fun!
Lastly, my little license plate game came with us on the trip. Melissa & Doug License Plate Game(affiliate link) In a span of 10 days we nearly cleared the board!!! Can you tell how happy it made me! We were only missing 7 states. I have kept this game going since we got home. I am so close to actually clearing the whole board. I just need Mississippi and Massachusetts…so if you want to come drive by so I can do my happy dance, please do so!
Thanks for checking out more of our trip to Arizona.
Below are the websites if you would like more information about any of the places I mentioned.

Hiking:
City of Phoenix Trails & Preserves Locations (Trail 304, 100 and Piestewa Peak Summit Trail)
Arizona Game and Fish Department (Information about Lamar Haines Memorial Wildlife Area)

Museum:
Hall of Flame Museum

Read other posts about our trip to Arizona:

Arizona Road Racers Summer Series 5k
An Arizona Wedding
2 Arizona Canyons (The Grand Canyon and Walnut Canyon)
Mashed Potato Doughnuts (Recipe)

More to Enjoy! 😍

My Favorite Posts from 2015
Arizona Road Racers Summer Series 5k

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Hi! I'm KC. I'm a single mom of 2 girls who loves all things creative. Whether it's making something crafty or tackling that DIY project, I'm gonna have some fun and stay organized in the process. 😊 Read More…

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Comments

  1. K Coake says

    July 18, 2012 at 9:37 pm

    Lauras Crafty Life Yes, you are so blessed with so many great outdoor/hiking places! I am jealous now that I live across country and the only ‘hiking’ is a paved path that is level. I miss my home state! I don’t miss the summers though. Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a great weekend!

    Reply
  2. Carol Moyer says

    July 18, 2012 at 9:37 pm

    How I loved hearing your narrative and memories of your trip. You are a good writer. How can I get a copy of the picture of you and I on Squaw Peak? That is a precious memory for me. You are in super shape!! I so loved your narrative to go with the activities of your trip. This was a huge blessing to me. Thank you!!

    Reply
  3. Lauras Crafty Life says

    July 18, 2012 at 9:37 pm

    I live in Arizona and we are so blessed with so many great places to get outdoors so close to home! We have just about every kind of scenery such a short drive away. 🙂

    Reply
  4. K Coake says

    July 18, 2012 at 9:41 pm

    Mackenzie Rollins We did have a great time. So glad you stuck it out through this long post to hear about the flights. 😉 They were so fun! Thanks for hosting your link party and for stopping by!

    Reply
  5. Mackenzie Rollins says

    July 18, 2012 at 9:41 pm

    Looks like you guys had a blast. The pictures are great and I loved hearing about the flights too. Thank you for sharing with us on Saturday Show and Tell. I hope you’ll join us again this week!
    -Mackenzie
    https://www.cheeriosandlattes.com

    Reply
  6. K Coake says

    July 18, 2012 at 9:41 pm

    @six sisters We did have a great time! I only hope it isn’t another 7 years before we make it to my ‘hometown’ again. Thanks so much for stopping by!

    Reply
  7. six sisters says

    July 18, 2012 at 9:42 pm

    This is such a fun post! Looks like you had a great time. We are so thrilled to have you link up to our “Strut Your Stuff Saturday”. We hope to see you again next week! -The Sisters

    Reply
  8. K Coake says

    July 18, 2012 at 9:42 pm

    @The Freckled Optimist Yes, we had a busy and fun trip! I loved your wreath. So pretty! Have a great 4th!

    Reply
  9. The Freckled Optimist says

    July 18, 2012 at 9:42 pm

    What an adventure! Sounds like you have been busy! Thanks so much for your comment on my Fourth of July wreath!

    Reply
  10. K Coake says

    July 18, 2012 at 9:42 pm

    @Carol Moyer I will email you our picture. Glad you enjoyed reading it. <3

    Reply

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