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North of Phoenix by about 15 miles and just to the east of I-17 are a couple peaks that stand out from the desert floor. The more rugged peak is called Gavilan Peak and the taller but gentler is called Daisy Mountain. On Labor Day we decided to hike to the top of Daisy Mountain. We were not aware of any trails so it was cross country all the way up which turned out to be just as strenuous as I thought it would be. Even though the slopes look gentle and smooth from a distance, in reality prickly bushes and cacti crowed together and the angle is much steeper that it appears. The view from the top, however, is worth all the effort.

We started out on the west side of the mountain. This was the easiest access we could find by truck. Turning off of the frontage road near a "dome house" we found ourselves traveling down a well-used jeep trail. I couldn't help but wonder if this jeep trail today used to be a wagon and donkey road a hundred years ago (or more). Following the road we kept our heading pretty much straight for Daisy Mountain. At a few places side roads split off and headed north towards Gavilan Peak. After a couple miles we had come as far as we dared in our pickup truck so we parked next to the road and began to plan our ascent.

Daisy Mountain is really a series of 5 or 6 little peaks that run roughly north-south. The highest peak, the one we were heading for, is almost the northern most of those peaks. We decided to approach it from the south. A shoulder of one of the peaks headed towards us, in the west, and it looked gentle enough to walk up. Our plan, then, was to walk up that shoulder and get to the top of one of the lower peaks then follow the ridgeline north to the top of the highest peak.

That approach worked great. After about an hour of hiking through the desert scrub we made it to the top of the lower peak. Looking down the hill to the south we saw a faint trail that appears to start somewhere in Anthem. Our guess was that this trail used to be accessible (before Anthem gated off large sections of it's community) and was a trail heading up to the top.

We turned north and took another 20 minutes or so to get to the highest point. Along the way we intersected with that same trail that we had seen much further below and followed that to the top. For the return trip we considered following the trail all the way to the bottom but that would have taken us to the southern end of Daisy Mountain. From there we would have had a 2 mile cross-country trek back to our car. We decided to take the easy way out and go back the same way we came.

The view from the top of Daisy Mountain was impressive. Visibility was good so we could see many miles in each direction. To the west we could see Lake Pleasant and one of the marinas there. To the south we could make out Camelback Mountain's distinctive shape. It was also clear that many other people had climbed this mountain. At the top was a large pile of rocks. It seemed to us that each person who ascended the mountain would throw another rock on the pile (so we each did). Several of the small boulders were written on by previous explorers.

Following are some of the pictures I took on this hike.

These first two pictures are taken from where we started the hike in the morning. The houses in the distance of the first picture are all a part of Anthem.

These next two were taken on the way up. In the first you can see Gavilan peak rising up out of the desert. We considered hiking to the top of that but it looked a bit steep for us.

This is a picture of a bird nest that we found. It was sitting at eye level in the branch of a tree that crossed our path. I'm not sure what sort of bird lives in this nest.