hike or bike outside Phoenix?
 

I am going to be spending about 4 days in Phoenix in February with a few friends, and we are interested in a few days trips to either hike and/or mountain bike in the area. If we bike we would need to rent bikes nearby since we will have a rental car and won't b e able to fit them in our car. Do any of you have suggestions on hikes and/or bike trips? THanks.

Lynne

You might be able to get bike rentals at any of the resorts.....try one of the Hilton Pointe resorts, there are three, all close to hiking and biking.....hiking is huge here as we are surrounded by mountains, so whatever area you are in will, no doubt, have plenty of areas for hiking/biking. Other than that, you might look under bike rentals in the phone book or call bike shops for suggestions.

THanks - I forgot to mention that two of us are photographers - so we are interested in the most scenic spots. There is so much park land around Phoenix so where are your favorites?

Lynne

Lynne, Here's an excellent website with hiking, mountain biking and more, information for AZ. http://hikearizona.com/ Our s-i-l and daughter who live in Phoenix use it for their hikes and I used it to plan our Sedona hiking.

If you look at their menu under "hike indexes" you can separate it out as to your particular interest...canyoneering, mountain biking, ruins, waterfalls what-have-you.

We've hiked South Mountain in Phoenix while visiting them...nice hike for both recreational hikers and mountain bikers. The website should help you find plenty more good ones.

I would try McDowell Mtn. park for moutain biking. It is a very scenic area with great views of the mountains east of Phoniex as well as the McDOwells. The park is just north of Fountain Hills. Not sure where to rent bikes, you will just have to call bike shops in north scottsdale.

In Phoenix you can ride (or hike) the Christiansen trail in the Phoenix mountain preserve. If you like to hiike vertically, try either Piestawa Peak in Squaw Peak Park or Camelback Mountain.

A great hike in the Superstition Mountains is the Peralta Trail which gives a great view of Weavers needle. There are other nice hikes in the Superstitions

A great day trip is to Payson about an hour North of Phoenix. Just outside of Payson is Tonto Natural Bridge, part of a state park with some great hiking and photo opportunities. http://www.pr.state.az.us/Parks/parkhtml/tonto.html
Also if you are planning on biking in McDowell Mountain, I believe the bike store in Fountain Hills, CG bikes on Shea rents bikes.