Quartz Trail

Easter Sunday typically means baskets full of colored eggs, Peeps, and other candies all piled on top of another on a bed of plastic grass. In Phoenix, like most weekends, it also means hiking. At least for me it does. This Easter we homed in on the Quartz Trail in the McDowell Sonoran Preserve.

Heading into the mountains along the Quartz Trail

From the Quartz Trailhead parking, we walked across 104th Street to join the main trail via a short access trail. The Quartz Trail runs roughly east and west through here. Turn right on the trail and 0.7 miles later the Quartz terminates at its juncture with the WestWorld Trail. Turn left and the trail will take you 4.2 mile into the mountains before coming to an end somewhere in Box Canyon. We turned left, naturally, and began an easy, gradual ascent into the mountains.

Slight but steady uphill hiking along the Quartz Trail

The trail was quiet on this day. We saw a few other hikers and some mountain bikers but nothing even remotely resembling a crowd. I saw a white speck on the mountain in the distance and figured it to be the quartz outcropping from which the trail likely received its name. I don't know if it was the relentless desert sun or what, but for some reason Rodney Dangerfield's line from the boat scene in Caddyshack (Over there! I wanna go over there!) popped into my head. I'd read about a steep spur trail leading to this prominent outcropping, so I knew beforehand I was going to check it out.

Prominent quartz deposit on the mountain ahead

The spur to the quartz outcropping isn't marked, but at this point on the trail it's fairly obvious where the trail leads. In several other places where signage does not exist, however, it's easy to wander off the Quartz unintentionally. The last sign I can remember seeing was at the junction of the Quartz and Lost Dog Wash trails. That leaves two miles of official trail unidentified. And as the quartz trail winds through Box Canyon, the trail can be hard to follow. With no signs for guidance, determining what is and what isn't the trail certainly gets tricky at times. Someone before me recognized this navigational void by arranging rocks in such a way to indicate the direction of the trail in a couple of places where it is particularly confusing.

But before the confusion of Box Canyon, the Quartz Trail cuts a wide path straight and true underneath that large quartz deposit on the side of the mountain. I did of course turn right on the spur and, yes, it basically runs straight up the mountain. The good news is that it is not a very long hike - maybe seven or eight minutes, certainly less than ten. The reward is your view from the outcropping. I was surprised at how much elevation I'd gained.

Quartz Trail passes underneath the quartz outcropping

The quartz up close (with water bottle in foreground)

View from the quartz outcropping

Back down on the main trail, I continued to follow it deep into Box Canyon, paying careful attention as the path narrowed and blurred. According to the map, the trail dead-ends two miles after the junction with Dog Wash, and I reached a point where I kept expecting to see a sign indicating the end of the trail at every turn. I never saw this sign, and the trail - if it was still an authorized trail at this point - was becoming so overgrown that I finally just turned around, figuring I must be two miles down the trail from the Dog Wash by now.

Full steam ahead on the Quartz Trail until . . .

 . . . things began to get messy in Box Canyon

The hike out was the same hike in reverse and all downhill, which is the best way to end any hike. Save for the spur trail to the quartz deposit, this is a pretty easy walk in the desert. The map shows it having a 1,104-foot elevation gain, but it was such a gradual incline that it just didn't feel like that was even possible. The optional spur trail is always available if you are serious about your aerobic conditioning, which we all should be. So this trail has a lot of positives, not least of which is the fact that it offers ample parking without the daunting crowds. For sure, the Quartz Trail has earned our repeat business. We'll hike it again, and when we do, maybe we'll see you out there!