Western Vista

Rating: 
Round Trip Distance: 0.6 miles
Difficulty: Moderate
MTB Skill level:
Elevation: 1747 - 2051 feet
Cellphone: 3-5 bars
Time: 30 mins.
Trailhead: Desert Vista
Fee: none
Attractions: View

Western Vista is located in the Southern Area of the Sonoran Preserve in Phoenix, Arizona. Beginning off of the Dixie Mountain Loop the trail makes a moderate climb that takes it to an overlook above the western edge of the Sonoran Preserve.

The Desert Vista trailhead is located at 1900 West Desert Vista Trail. There are restrooms and water available at the trailhead.

The shortest route from the trailhead is to climb to the top of the Hawk's Nest trail and go left on the Dixie Mountain Loop for 1.2 miles.

The trail starts out with a gentle climb up a shoulder of the mountain.

From there the trail continues climbing the ridge toward the summit.

As the side of the mountain gets steeper a switchback eases the climb.

For the final assault on the summit the trail actually levels off quite a bit, passing on the steeper and more direct approach to the top, as it sweeps around another switchback.

With little fanfare, and not too much sweat, the trail gets to the top and comes to an end. Out of the 3 summit trails in the Southern Preserve the Western Vista is by far the easiest.

A quarry on the west side of the mountain makes the view in that direction a little less than stellar but it's not bad in most every other direction.

Back at the bottom of the trail it is 1.6 miles to the right to the trailhead and 3 miles on around the Dixie Mountain Loop to the left. The distance can be extended by making use of other trails in the area but there's not much that can be done to make it shorter than the minimum round trip distance from the trailhead and back of 2.2 miles. The Western Vista is a nice something to do that gives you a little extra workout without getting all that difficult. If you would like to see it for yourself then all you have to do is 'Take a hike'.