Deem Hills Recreation Area

I was up early last Saturday to explore the trails at Deem Hills Recreation Area. This park is in the Deer Valley section of Phoenix, on the other side of the freeway from the Phoenix Sonoran Preserve. There were plenty of open parking spaces at the 39th Avenue entrance. I enjoyed a banana in the car with Chicago playing on the radio before cramming a few snacks into my pockets and heading out on the Circumference Trail.

Circumference Trail - looking SW from park's northern edge

When I see trails that include descriptive text like "circumference" or "perimeter" in their moniker, I reflexively assign to them adjectives such as easy or boring and visualize them as being filled with large groups of slow moving hikers reluctant to yield right-of-way. But this was far from the case at Deem Hills. On this day, trail etiquette was the rule and the Circumference Trail, much to my delight, was far from boring. With a fair amount of twisting and turning and uphill/downhill, the trail also required more physical effort than is generally required from an everyday run-of-the-mill circumference- or perimeter-type trail.

Southern portion of the Circumference Trail looking west

With all but 0.59 miles of the Circumference complete, I decided I also wanted to walk the Ridgeline Trail. That's what I'd like to say, anyway. The truth of the matter is I wrongly interpreted the map and neglected to take the Ridgeline on not one, but two separate occasions in which I had the opportunity. Fortunately I had time and energy to spare, so I veered off of the Circumference and onto the Basalt Trail, where I joined with the Ridgeline Trail a third of a mile later.

Basalt Trail

By now it was getting to be mid-morning and activity on the trail was starting to pick up. I noticed, too, I was running low on water, which was now quite warm inside my plastic bottle. The Ridgeline, as you can imagine, given its name, offered some really nice views. Unfortunately, these picturesque images don't really come across in my photos. We don't judge books by their covers so please don't judge a trail by its pictures - certainly not mine, anyway. Not to sound like Kurt Russell in Used Cars, but trust me, come check this one out for yourself. You won't be disappointed.

Looking NW from the Ridgeline Trail

I came down the Ridgeline via a series of switchbacks before reconnecting with the Circumference. My last remaining swallows of water were unpleasantly warm, almost like shower water. I can see right now the notion of setting out on long hikes in the Phoenix summer is already a non-starter.

Looking back as I begin descending the Ridgeline Trail

The Circumference took me back to the Basalt, which led me again to the Circumference for the final 0.59-mile hike to close the loop at the trailhead. Based on the small number of cars in the parking lot, it was fairly obvious most people were using the trailhead off of 51st Avenue for access - something to keep in mind when planning hikes here in the future.

A final tally of my mileage revealed I hiked 8.83 miles, which was longer than I originally estimated, thanks to my poor map reading skills. The extra mileage didn't bother me one bit, however, as this is a great park with a well-maintained network of trails. The only trail I didn't take on this day was the Palisade Trail, which I expect to hike on one of my many return visits here.

Come explore Deem Hills Recreation Area