Shaw Butte is my go to hike when I can’t get away for an away from home hike. From the North Mountain Visitor Center, doing the summit loop counterclockwise, it is 4.60 miles and 900 AEG. Hiking from my house to the NMVC, the loop, then back home, depending on satellite wobble, is about 7.00 miles and 1200 AEG. I can do it in less than 2.5 hours, so I can fit a good workout into a busy schedule. I won’t feel guilty for being lazy.
You’d have to try awful hard to get lost on the loop, just follow the bajillion sign posts, scanning the QR code with your mobile if you are unsure. Or ask someone, as Shaw Butte Trail #306 is packed with people, afoot and abike. Dogs too. And bags of dog poo — which the owners have thoughtfully left behind for other people to enjoy. Years ago, when I first started hiking urban Phoenix, I picked one of those bags up. It was runny. I never made that mistake again. Today, all I picked up was en empty cardboard box of cheesy fish crackers.
Shaw Butte has good views, and is a good workout, but is not exciting. Certainly not normally worth turning into a hike video. Though I did two special videos that involved Shaw Butte hikes: One for the football (“soccer”) team I support, Glasgow Celtic, and a graffiti video that included some of the throw ups on the old Cloud 9 restaurant.
So, what I decided to do instead, as an experiment, was take a photo, pointing straight up trail, every 2/10ths of a mile the whole way around. I came pretty close, with probably 80% of the photos being every .20 or .21 miles, though a few stretched as long .28 miles. Let me know how you think it turned out!
GPS File: Shaw_Butte_Trail_306
Distance: 6.91 mi.
AEG: 1,197 ft.
Time: 2h 16m
Shaw Butte Hike Video
Hiking Shaw Butte, Phoenix Mountains Preserve from Preston McMurry on Vimeo.
