South Mountain Alta loop hike

We will meet a at the ranger station at the park entrance there everybody can use the bathrooms and we can maybe carpool from there

We will start this hike at the San Juan Lookout. We will go up very steep Alta Trail. At this point we will have a optional opportunity to go up to Maricopa Peak. There will be a bit of scrambling at the top if this is too much for you would say to wait at the bottom there and it’ll give you a little extra chance to rest up after we come back down from Maricopa Peak, we will continue going across on the Alta Trail and then come back down where we will cross San Juan Rd. From there we will take Bajada trail and national trail to our original starting point.

This hike will be approximately 9 miles with about 1800 feet of elevation game close to 2000 with the optional Maricopa Peak. This is one of my favorite hikes in South Mountain.

Be sure to bring at least 3 L of water as it will still be fairly warm. This is not an easy hike. If possible please carpool or condense due to limited parking