Populating the space between the Thumb Butte and Granite Basin Recreation areas in Prescott National Forest, the Spence Basin Trail System adds nearly 30 miles of hiking options to the area’s already packed menu.

Following the usually dry course of the Hassayampa River, this wonky walk culminates at a prominent russet-colored rock outcropping and favorite roosting site for turkey vultures. 

This easy loop hike in the northwest sector of Saguaro National Park unpacks a geologically diverse landscape rife with the eponymous giant cactus and a full menu of desert plants.

An under-the-radar dirt road north of Carefree ascends 900 feet to mountain saddle overlooking the Verde River Valley and peeks at the distant Superstition Wilderness.  

True to its name, this iconic Payson trail wanders among a bizarre wilderness of rock.

Distinctive Brown’s Mountain is a centerpiece of Scottsdale’s McDowell Sonoran Preserve.

As one of the largest municipal parks in the nation, SOMO boasts an enviable menu of hiking trails.

When you hit the trail with Fife Symington IV, expect the unexpected. “I always warn people who hike with me about that,” says the Valley native and founding CEO of Copperstate Farms, an Arizona cannabis business. “My hikes might be faster, slower, longer or shorter than planned. But that’s part of the fun, and it’s why my wife calls them ‘Adventures with Fife.’” A lifelong hiker, Symington (son of former Arizona governor Fife Symington III)...

Spanning 9,951 acres of wild space a few miles west of Lake Pleasant, Hells Canyon Wilderness Area offers a quick way to escape into an untamed swath  of desert that’s more paradise than purgatory.

Two above ground trails explore the Chihuahuan semi-desert grasslands and oak-juniper forests that surround Kartchner Caverns in Southern Arizona.