Hiking Piestewa Peak

Photos by Tobe Lundgren

Begin early enough in the morning, and you will enjoy Piestewa Peak, the perfect "stair master" workout, with a steady climb up to 2,608 feet.  This 1,400 elevation, 2.4 mile climb takes about 1.5 hours, unless you are a runner.  The paths are wide with benches along the way.  The summit provides a view of Phoenix, Scottsdale, Glendale, and the Dreamy Draw which has many mines, some of which are mercury mines.  The original trail up the peak was a mule/horse trail.  The former name, Squaw Peak, was a derogatory term, so beginning in 1992, Native Americans began petitioning to have the name changed.  Petitions stalled until finally it was renamed for the first Native American woman to ever die in combat in the US military, also the first woman to die in the Iraq War in 2003, Lori Ann Piestewa.  Great controversy surrounded the renaming as Governor Napolitano did not wait the requisite five years after the death of a person before naming a geographic feature.  Once Arizona agreed, the U.S. Board had their own five-year waiting requirement.  Squaw Peak is still a secondary name, and used on the street entrance.  The Circumference Trail, 3.6 miles, is a great alternative, and full of wildflowers in the spring.