From the top of South Mountain

We decided to go for a hike but settled on a drive to South Mountain. It is a city park that is 17,000 acres in area and is located just south of central Phoenix, hence the name.Its known to be about the worlds largest city park. We drove up to the gate and found a map to see where to explore. There were many hiking trails and also places you could drive to. We drove on a 5 mile road with many switchback curves at 15mph , and the road kept going steadily upwards.

All along the way were so many wonderful vistas. we stopped at Dobbins lookout which is at 2330 feet. Avondale like Mora is about 900 feet. So we were up there aways.

We could see downtown Phoenix.Also fun was watching the air liners sailing over head and landing at Sky Harbor airport, they appeared to be cruising between the tall buildings down town.

The area has a lot of farms on the south side and cotton is king, and it was time to pick cotton.

we took these two pictures when we got down near them

As we drove up farther we came to where the city had some of there tv and radio antennas at the top. There we could look down on the other side and see the city of Ahwatukee . We also saw some hawks soaring on the warm air thermos just above us .



Back at the bottom we stopped to look at the rangers station was originally at the front gate of the park made out of rocks found in this area and another building -not sure what it was.The area has horse ranches where you can rent a horse and take trips up and around the mountain.

It was a very nice drive and if any of you come out to visit us we can take you up to see for yourselves.

Note: I believe you can double click on the pictures to see them larger