You can click on any of these photos to see larger versions.

On the east coast, if someone refers to “a park in the middle of the city” then one assumes they are talking about a spot of green surrounded by an urban landscape. In Phoenix, a park in the middle of the city is often a desert mountain, surrounded on all sides by suburbs and shopping malls.

Squaw Trail is a mountain park inside of Phoenix

Back on Monday (December 1st) Dave had a 5 hour break between his morning class and his afternoon lab, so we headed a bit north to go hiking on Squaw Trail.

At the bottom of Squaw Trail #1

At the bottom of Squaw Trail #2

At the bottom of Squaw Trail #3

At the bottom of Squaw Trail #4

At the bottom of Squaw Trail #5

On the first, lower peak, looking south east

Climbing up to the second peak

At the second peak, looking north east

The views out here are astonishing, though in this case it is the extent of the urban landscape that offered the most surprise. One can see it stretching off for 20, 30, possibly even 40 miles. This is even more surprising when you realize that Squaw Trail is already on the east side of Phoenix, so the vast bulk of the city is behind us.

Looking straight south

Looking south south east

Looking south east

Looking east south east

Looking east

Looking east north east

Looking north east

Looking north north east

By now it was 4 PM and Dave had to get back to class by 5 PM, so we decided to head back down.