Phoenix closes Camelback, Piestewa and South Mountain trails for extreme heat
Phoenix shut Camelback, Piestewa and key South Mountain trails from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. through July 9 as highs climbed to 117 degrees.
Phoenix locked down its marquee desert climbs after 8 a.m., closing Camelback Mountain, Piestewa Peak and key South Mountain trails from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Thursday, July 9, as an Extreme Heat Warning pushed forecast highs to 110 to 117 degrees and morning lows into the 80s and 90s.
The city’s Trail Heat Safety Program, launched in 2021, closes trails during Extreme Heat Warnings. Under the current policy, Camelback Mountain Preserve’s Echo Canyon and Cholla trails, the Piestewa Peak Summit trail and associated trails in Phoenix Mountains Preserve, and South Mountain Park and Preserve’s Holbert Trail, Mormon Trail, Hau'pal Loop Trail and access to the National Trail from the Pima Canyon Trailhead are restricted whenever the National Weather Service issues an Extreme Heat Warning.
The National Trail stays open from other trailheads, and more than 100 miles of South Mountain trails remain accessible while fewer than 7 miles are restricted.
Phoenix says more than 200 hikers are rescued each year from its desert and mountain parks and preserves. The city recorded 45 days of trail closures tied to extreme heat warnings between May 1 and October 13 in 2024, a year that also brought 121 days at or above 105 degrees. Phoenix Fire Department recorded 18 mountain rescues at South Mountain from May to September in 2023 and 25 in the same period in 2024.
In August 2025, Phoenix Fire pulled an overheated hiker off Camelback’s closed Cholla Trail during an extreme heat warning and the hiker was hospitalized in critical condition. City code prohibits entering closed park areas, and violations can be charged as a class 1 misdemeanor.
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