If you like crazy rock formations, this hike is for you
Scorpion Point doesn’t rise particularly high over the boulder-strewn flats of the far west sector of Scottsdale’s McDowell Sonoran Preserve.
Yet, even without cloud-scraping height, the weather-worn mound provides a platform for viewing a sprawling desert landscape and a concentrated maze of tightly woven trails favored by mountain bikers for their challenging turns and narrow passages.
Scorpion Point sits at the core of a vast field of granite boulders laid out in jumbled piles, fortress-like walls and isolated pinnacles. Some have been shaped into bizarre, often amusing forms by millions of years of exposure and erosion.
Easily accessible by the Browns Ranch and Pima Dynamite trailheads, a hike to the point unspools in an environment of rich botanical diversity and an outdoor museum of sorts with natural stone sculptures.
From the Browns Ranch trailhead, begin the hike on the Latigo Trail heading west.
From the start, the trail dips into a largely shadeless expanse of desert where sun-loving plants like Christmas cactus, turpentine bush, jojoba, chuparosa, desert hackberry and desert lav
ender stand out over acres of prime wildflower territory.
With ample rainfall, this exposed tract produces carpets of colorful blooms in spring that creep up the slopes of nearby Cone and Brown’s mountains.
At the 1.2-mile point, pick up the Hackamore Trail, hike 0.2 mile and turn left onto the Tarantula Trail. The next half-mile is packed with whimsical stone sculptures.
It won’t take much imagination to spot lumps of granite that resemble a rabbit, hog, guppy, hippo and an enormous standing bear. (Rock formation interpretations are my own and not intended to imply any official designations.) Once through the rock art gallery, the trail encounters a sign warning of dangerous conditions ahead.
This is the aforementioned bike maze where slickrock and blind curves warrant paying attention to footing and oncoming traffic. Hikers will find the well-signed obstacles within the maze only moderately tricky. Follow the Dare A Sarah and Scorpion Trails to get to the point.
A short spur path leads to the bald lookout for unobstructed vistas that stretch all the way to the peaks of Tonto National Forest in the north to the familiar profiles of Pinnacle Peak, South Mountain and the distant Sierra Estrella range to the southwest.
Make Scorpion Point your turnaround spot or use the excellent preserve maps available online to build your own loop or car-shuttle hike.
Hours: Sunrise to sunset daily.
Admission: Free.
Details: https://www.scottsdale az.gov/preserve.
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