Get your heart pumping on this scenic hike near Phoenix. Here's how to do the Cholla Loop

Mare Czinar
·2 min read

No stranger to hikers in search of a summit, the Arrowhead Point Trail in Glendale’s Thunderbird Conservation Park gets plenty of love.

The 1.5-mile route crushes its way up to a familiar mountaintop cairn and American flag by way of compressed switchbacks.

It’s a great way to get a quick workout and enjoy the company of other hikers. But for those who prefer a longer, slightly less strenuous and less crowded alternative, there’s a flip side.

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The Cholla Loop is across 55th Avenue, which bisects the 1,185-acre park in the Hedgpeth Hills. One of eight paths that make up the park’s 15-mile nonmotorized trail system, the Cholla Loop may be accessed two ways from the Pinnacle Peak Road trailhead.

How to hike the Cholla Loop in Glendale

For direct access and to get most of the steep climbing done early in the hike, walk a few yards west from the parking area, cross 55th Avenue and follow the trail signs. After a short warmup section, the trail takes on the hill in zig-zag format, climbing steadily among volcanic boulder fields, rockslides and acres of blooming brittlebush.

Several level spots on the way up afford excellent views of the north Valley, surrounding suburbs, distant mountain ranges and the parade of hikers scaling Arrowhead Point. The saguaro-ringed high point of the Cholla Loop is attained about a mile in.

You choose:Customize your hike as easy or challenging as you like at this metro Phoenix park

City, mountain views from the top of Cholla Loop

Here, vistas extend to include the skyline of downtown Phoenix and the long profile of New River Mesa.

Shaded only by an occasional paloverde tree, the trail departs the high point on a series of edge-hugging but less severe switchbacks, swinging along the hill’s northeast face in an undulating style that adds to the hike's over 700 feet of accumulated elevation change.

A quick slingshot turn takes the trail over to the west face for its final descent where it meets a pedestrian bridge where hikers can pick up the Coach Whip Trail for return leg of the trip.

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Glendale hike: Cholla Loop, Thunderbird Conservation Park

Length: 3.9 miles.

Rating: Moderate to difficult.

Elevation: 1,353-1,812 feet (771 feet of accumulated elevation change).

Getting there: Glendale Conservation Park. Use the Pinnacle Peak Road trailhead. From Interstate 17 in Phoenix, take Exit 217 for Pinnacle Peak Road and go 3.7 miles west to the park entrance on the left just before the traffic light at 55th Avenue.

Facilities: Picnic ramadas, wildlife observation areas.

Hours: Sunrise to sunset daily.

Details: https://www.glendaleaz.com.

Read more of Mare Czinar's hikes at http://arizonahiking.blogspot.com.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Glendale AZ hike: Thunderbird Conservation Park Cholla Loop