Tempe Butte (1,495) by Brian Schultz Sunday January 16, 2022
Roundtrip mileage: 0.58 miles
Elevation gain: 275'
Start to finish: 33 minutes
Participants: Brian Schultz, grandson Preston

My grandson Preston was participating in a baseball tournament in Phoenix over the long Martin Luther King weekend. His days were mostly taken up with practices and games but free time on Sunday morning presented an opportunity to hit a peak. Tempe Butte, also known as Hayden Butte, would be a great choice with its short mileage and easy trail to the top. The popular peak is located in downtown Tempe with a pay parking lot next to the trailhead, but so many cars were queued up trying to get in when we got there that we just parked off street a few blocks away.

We began at 10:25 AM at the well marked trailhead. It's only a quarter mile to the top on an excellent trail (photo 1, photo 2) and the summit (photo 1, photo 2) was quickly reached. There are nice views in all directions from the top and on our way down we followed a trail over to the east end of the summit ridge, hoping to look down into the Sun Devil Football Stadium from above. Unfortunately, there's a high wall blocking the field so we retreated back to the trailhead. It took a lot longer to drive to Tempe, Arizona from Gilbert, Arizona than to hike this fun little peak but it was worth it. Preston's team ended up winning the championship on Monday afternoon so the long weekend was great fun all around.