4 Miles
371 feet
Easy/Moderate
A+ Views
Ridgeline and Pima Wash Trail Hike Overview
Create a nice loop with the Ridgeline and Pima Wash Trail hike! Up on the Ridgeline you will get great views of the Phoenix skyline, Camelback and the Phoenix Mountain Preserve. When you head back on the Pima Wash Trail you will enjoy excellent views of the Superstitions. The trails in South Mountain are more crowded but this is such a great area to be in!
Map & Elevation Profile
Max elevation: 1733 ft
Min elevation: 1362 ft
Total time: 01:21:36
Map for the Ridgeline and Pima Wash Trail Hike
The trails are marked but the signage isn’t great. Additionally, there is a spiderweb of trails. Having a map with all the trails marked is a really good idea and this map is excellent.
South Mountain Preserve Greentrails map
You definitely won’t regret having this map for your South Mountain Preserve hikes (affiliate link)!
Parking
Type in “Pima Canyon Trailhead” into your phone and you will be taken to a good parking location for this hike.
Ridgeline And Pima Wash Hike Trail Notes
Guys, hiking around the South Mountain Preserve is awesome. There are a lot of trails, great views, and the trails are really fun to hike on. On this particular day, there was a lot of smoke from the Apple Fire outside of LA.
It’s easy to make a loop as long or as short as you want. If you decide to hike a similar loop, the Ridgeline trail has terrific views of downtown Phoenix. There is quite a bit of up and down on this section. Some of these sections are steep. Hiking poles recommended!
Heading back on the Pima Wash Trail is nice because it’s easy and you get great views. Along this trail is also an old CCC Pavillion to check out.
A couple of downsides: This is a busy area and you will run into a lot of people. Additionally, the desert landscape in this area is baren and many of the cacti seemed dried out (unlike in the McDowell’s where it is very lush).
It’s amazing/peaceful that you can feel like you are in the middle of nowhere right next to a huge city.
So, is this the Ridgeline and Pima Wash hike worth it?
The hikes in South Mountain are really cool (including this one!). There are great views with very rugged trails. In some areas, it doesn’t seem possible that there is a huge sprawling metro just on the other side of the mountain.
Photos to Inspire you to go there:
