National Geographic, Trip Advisor, and other media rank Phoenix, Arizona among the best cities for hiking in the U.S. One of the best ways to experience (and support) this urban hiking scene is to complete the Phoenix Summit Challenge. 

The Phoenix Summit Challenge is an annual fundraiser to support the Phoenix Trail Fund. The fund helps the City of Phoenix maintain more than 200 miles of hiking trails and more than 41,000 acres of urban nature preserves. Each year, 1200 lucky hikers will register in late August to complete one of four hiking challenges in November: (1) the PHX7 Challenge (bagging seven local peaks in an 11-hour challenge); (2) the PHX5 Challenge (5 summits); (3) PHX4 Challenge (4 Summits); or (4) All Abilities Challenge. 

The PHX7 (7 Summits Challenge) was one of the first hikes that I put on my Arizona bucket list. 

Phoenix 7 Summits Challenge

The real draw is the 7 Summits Challenge (PHX7 Challenge). It’s an 11 hour event to bag 7 different peaks scattered across the city of Phoenix. None of the mountains are monsters. But the hike is no joke!

By the end of the day, hikers in the PHX7 Challenge end up hiking the equivalent of a marathon with more than a mile of elevation gain. My last PHX7 Challenge was 26.5 miles long with 6000 feet of elevation gain. Those stats are in the ballpark of hiking the Grand Canyon Rim to Rim. 

I’ve completed the PHX7 Challenge twice. The route changes each year. Here’s a quick snap-shot of my favorite route: the 2014 PHX7 Challenge.

2014 PHX7 Challenge:

My last PHX7 Challenge started with a 6:00 a.m. check in at South Mountain Park. Our group started in the dark, but the sun began to peek over South Mountain as we climbed the first trail of the day: the Alta Trail (4.6 miles, 830 ft elevation gain). I was already a sweaty mess when I reached my first summit around 7:00 a.m.

The hardest climb of the day (on paper) was summit #2: Piestewa Peak. Piestewa was slow going. First, I had to park a 1/2 mile outside of the Phoenix Mountain Preserve due to traffic. Second, the trail was choked with Phoenix Summit Challenge hikers joining the normal horde of weekend warriors. By this time, however, my body was locked in for the day:

I was mostly on auto-pilot from late morning to late afternoon. Dixie Peak (Summit #3) was a nice surprise–a moderate trail that I had not hiked before. After Dixie, I splurged on some takeout burritos from Carolina’s Mexican Restaurant before stamping my passport at the easiest summit of the day, Mt. Lookout (#4). 

My body felt surprisingly good, but the Challenge wore on me in the afternoon. The longest and hottest hike of the day combined North Mountain (#5) and Shaw Butte (#6) into a 7.6 mile loop of sand, sun, and jeep roads. The backside of Shaw Butte offers some interesting views, but I get bored on jeep road hikes. So I pushed myself to pass as many people as possible–to try to keep things interesting.

The 2014 Challenge ended with one of my favorite Phoenix hikes: the Holbert Trail. Summit #7 (Dobbins Lookout) offers the postcard overlook of Phoenix at sunset. The day ended like it started–hiking in the dark at South Mountain. I finished Holbert Trail by headlamp with hundreds of other hikers who chose the 7 Summits Challenge.

PHX7 Challenge trail stats

The 2014 PHX7 Challenge offered a nice sampling of Phoenix hikes:

• Alta Trail (4.6 miles/ 830 feet elevation gain)
• Piestewa Peak (3 miles/1162 ft. elevation gain)
• Dixie Peak (3 miles/887 feet elevation gain)
• Lookout Mountain (3.2 miles/586 ft elevation gain)
• North Mountain (2.3 miles/719 ft elevation gain)
• Shaw Butte (5.3 miles/796 ft elevation gain)
• Holbert Trail/Dobbins Lookout (5 miles/1000 ft elevation gain)

PHX7 registration

The Phoenix 7 Summits Challenge is a bucket-list contender. It’s a signature event for many hikers in the valley, and it’d be worth a road trip for fit hikers in the Southwest.

BUT… you’ve got to be organized (and a little lucky) to get in. Registration takes place in August–and the event sells out immediately. So you need to stalk the Phoenix Summit Challenge website and Facebook group for route and registration updates during summer. If you can access the online registration within the first few minutes, you can join 1200 lucky hikers. And November is a comfortable month in one of the United States’ best hiking cities. 

PHX7 logistics

• Time and Location. A Saturday in November. Routes change annually. Most hikes take place at South Mountain and the Phoenix Mountains Preserve in north-central Phoenix.
• Check In. Participants check in before dawn and follow the schedule of summit trails for their particular Challenge. (Organizers stagger start times for each event to manage parking logistics and traffic on the trails.)
• Organization. Volunteers staff each trail to check in registered hikers at the trail head and stamp their passports at each peak.
• Transportation: Hikers must arrange their own transportation to drive from trail to trail. (Hint: Pay close attention to trail heads and ideally plan your driving routes in advance. I wasted extra time on the road by driving to a wrong trail head for a familiar hike.)
• Food and water. The event coordinates water stations and snack tables provided by sponsors. But it’s worth packing a cooler for the day and/or planning a lunch stop.
• UROCK festival. You have the option of joining other participants for food, beer, vendor demos, and live music after your hike. 
• Registration fees support the Phoenix Trails Fund. You’ll also walk away with a commemorative T-shirt and bag of sponsor swag. 

Phoenix deserves to rank among the best hiking cites in the United States. The Phoenix Summit Challenge is a great way to experience and support the metro hiking scene. The 7 Summits Challenge made my bucket list in my first year in Arizona. You should definitely consider adding this hike to yours!