The mountain-biking trails are smooth, banked, and roller-coaster-like in many places, especially on the "sport" and "long" loops. Rocky hills, saguaros, coyotes, tarantulas - this place has it all, desert-wise. Even when it gets crowded, it can feel like your own personal Disneyland. Once there, you'll think you must have driven hours to be in a place this remote. It's a relatively short trip for much of metro Phoenix, too: mostly on freeways and about the same as hitting the Salt River for tubing. Taking a trip to this Maricopa County park, with its trails made just for mountain bikes, is like shooting below par all day long. One reason we mountain bike more than golf these days: We've never had a bad time mountain biking. Be prepared for a 30- to 45-minute hike, and bring a few water bottles - you'll want to stay awhile. The granite here is a bit crumbly, but the popular routes are solid and fun.
Be sure to know what the hell you're doing after leaving the Tom's Thumb parking area and stepping off from the main trail onto the signed, more-technical climbing trails that lead to the cliffs where climbing ropes and harnesses are required. A few spectacular two-pitch routes can be found on Sven Slab, Morrell's Wall, and the 300-foot Gardner's Wall, which has several moderate climbs grouped together for the weekend warriors. Hundreds of routes across several distinct sections have been established here over the years. "The McDowells," as local climbers call them, are best visited when the air is cool, which is about 10 or 11 months out of the year, as long as you like mornings. This is the closest Scottsdale gets to Switzerland, but that's not bad for a city that mostly sits only about 1,000 feet above sea level. South Mountain bouldering helps make this place livable. Though Arizona has some terrific climbing areas, good rock is tough to come by in the central Valley. At its end, take the arroyo southwest until you hit the boulders described in the guides. Get to the address above early, park, and walk the dirt road west. If you're sketchy at easy bouldering grades like V0 and V1, you won't love it here, and you might twist an ankle in the rocky landings, but climbers with skills and crash pads will find hours of entertainment and the inevitable bloody flapper on a hand. Ninety-five routes are listed on, but be sure to pick up the Marty Karabin pamphlet on the place for $5 at your local outdoor store.
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They're rock climbers with portable crash pads heading to the Valley's single best concentration of tough boulders for bouldering. No, they're not terrorists going to plant IEDs to take out the occasional mountain lion in this 16,000-acre municipal park.
If you're a hiker or mountain biker who visits South Mountain and you're not into climbing, you may have looked in bewilderment at some point at people walking through the bush with odd-looking backpacks.