Reach 11 Recreation Area

When I was younger, I lived right at the foothills of South Mountain. Many times I walked to a trailhead or through a neighborhood wash to gain access to the park and hike one of the many trails. These days, I have been driving a short distance to local parks and preserves in the Scottsdale area that are not that far out of my way yet are not necessarily within walking distance either. However, there is a park of sorts near my house where I can go hiking.


It is called the Reach 11 Recreational Area (I don't know the meaning behind the name) and is pretty much in the middle of developed land on all sides. It stretches from Cave Creek Rd. on the west to Scottsdale Rd. to the east and is about a half a mile wide. It follows the Central Arizona Project Canal to the south with various signs of civilization to the north such as the Mayo Hospital on 56th St.

I live right off of 56th St. and Bell Rd. so I had to walk a little ways till I reached the pedestrian access point north of the canal. There is one on either side of 56th St. so I took the one on the west side of the street and set off toward Tatum Blvd.

The entrance to begin with is paved, in fact some of the trails are paved, but the ones I hiked on were not. I set out on the path that followed the south side of the area, closest to the canal. It is all natural  desert terrain which most people would think of as just rocks, sand and cacti, but it would surprise those people to see how beautiful and green the area is. I have stated this fact once before and I will once more; The Sonoran Desert is the least arid of all of the deserts in the world which contributes to the variety of flora and fauna that inhabit the area. It is a desert abundant with life, not like the Gobi or Sahara which is what most people probably think of when they imagine a desert.

As I walked through the Reach 11, I felt like I was walking through a forest. I was surrounded by Palo Verde, Hackberry and Mesquite trees (among others). There were Jackrabbits, Ground Squirrels and  running off of the paths so fast I barely had a chance to grab my camera to take a picture.

It is very easy to forget that you are close to civilization, but if you walk far enough, you will eventually get to the Tatum parking area. On the other side of Tatum is the Horse Lovers Park, an equestrian part of the Reach 11. Before I got to this point, I found myself on the Jackrabbit trail, just an offshoot of the main trail that connects you with the other side (E211N).

On my way back, I decided to check out the trail that runs between the E211N and the E211S, called the Javelina trail. This trail (I think) had more trees than the other trails. They seemed to meet in the middle, above the trail almost making a tunnel.

At the point where the trail starts going east, there is a small pond. I thought at first that it was a natural basin where all of the rain water collects or perhaps there was a natural spring, but as it turns out, there is a PVC pipe on one end that feeds water into it. Still, it is a nice area to maybe have a picnic or just stop and enjoy the scenery. There is a table and a garbage can if you wanted to sit and have lunch. However the Table is covered in graffiti and looked as if someone left their bag of bread (what was left of it), a little reminder of the fact that we were still in the middle of the city.

The Javelina Trail eventually led me back to the entrance at 56th St. At 11:00 am the heavy traffic reminded me that I was not in the middle of the desert wilderness the fact pulled me back into reality. I really enjoyed this (almost) untouched piece of desert land . It is not a difficult hike at all and is great for jogging, biking and horseback riding as well. I can't wait to bring my wife and daughter. I think they may enjoy it as well.