Camelback Mountain

Camelback Mountain from the deck of the Grand Ambassador Hotel

Phoenix, Arizona is my home. I’ve lived in a couple of other states but it was temporary. I’ve lived all over the Phoenix metropolitan area but the Arcadia neighborhood is my favorite and where I live now. My home is behind Arcadia High School

Camelback Mountain is iconic to Phoenix. It is a desert hill that is surrounded by beautiful homes. The town of Paradise Valley borders on the North while Arcadia is to the South. Homes built on the slope of the mountain are where the affluent live.

The roads on Camelback Mountain are stunning, bordered by gorgeous homes, these roads are attractive to people like myself that live in the area and enjoy the mountain views of Phoenix and the surrounding cities.

I graduated High School in 1979. As with most teenagers here, we would drive up on Camelback Mountain to see the city lights. Red Rock, Grandview, Wonderview, Dromedary, and Valle Vista on the South side, Cholla and Sage on the East, Solano and San Miguel on the North side. Valle Vista, the most popular vista road on the South slope of Camelback Mountain is accessed from Arcadia Drive on the West and 56st on the East and it also runs on the North side with good views there. Red Rock road is my favorite loop, I drive it several times a season often taking pictures with my film cameras as you see here.

Phoenix is a desert city of five million people. During the summers, we have temperatures of over a hundred degrees for at least a hundred days straight. Our nighttime lows are above ninety degrees. It is hot. The Phoenix Fire Department is constantly rescuing hikers that are overwhelmed with the heat. There have been deaths on Camelback Mountain caused by ill equipped hikers overwhelmed by the heat.

All of the photography from this page is mine. I enjoy a mix of digital and film. My Nikon film cameras are my favorites.

The Echo Canyon trailhead parking lot

These roads are in residential areas. There are no official view points, no parking areas for viewing and certainly no public parking. There are two hiking trails on Camelback Mountain, Cholla Trail on the East side and Echo Canyon on the Northwest side. Echo Canyon has a gated controlled parking area for the trailhead. Cholla Trailhead is problematic as access is literally on a residential street. Public parking for Cholla is down on the flats at the base of the mountain. You have to park and hike up Cholla road through the neighborhood to get to the trailhead.

The Praying Monk and his Book down on the lower left.

The Praying Monk, East face.

The Praying Monk North side.

On the North side of the mountain is the iconic Praying Monk. It is a huge boulder that has an obscure outline of a kneeling person (a stretch of the imagination) with a smaller boulder below that appears to look like a book.

It is a climb on conglomerate rock. The climb is bolted and the repel down is off the nose of the Monk. It is about half the length of a climbing rope from my recollection which makes it about a seventy five foot overhanging repel. I climbed the Monk a few times in the late seventies with a couple of high school friends. There are climbing routes in the area, one of my favorites was called the Hart Route which lead to the head of Camelback Mountain.

I understand that there is a BASE jump exit on the West end of the North side. Access from the Echo Canyon parking lot, the cliff is across from Bobby’s Rock, another climb that is popular in the area.

Hatsuhinode on the summit of Camelback Mountain.

Camelback Mountain is a very special place for me. Early before dawn on January 1, I will climb it and wait for the sun to rise. Mr. Koshio brings his drum and flute and we celebrate Hatsuhinode on the summit. You can sometimes hear the party still rocking at the W in Scottsdale. I prefer the tranquil sound of Ken san’s flute and drum.

Cholla Trail pre-dawn

Descending into the clouds on the East side Cholla trail.

I enjoy a drive through the neighborhoods. I’ve been doing it for forty years. Often after work I’ll take one of my old Nikon film cameras and pick out a lens and take pictures of my favorite homes. I went to school with the families that live in these homes. Many of them still live here and through social media, they too get to look at my perspective as I write these pages and post the images.

An older home on the North side, one of my favorites.

The Castle on Camelback Mountain has captured my interest my whole life. I went to school with the daughter of the gentleman that built it. The Castle is iconic to Camelback Mountain and is located on Red Rock Rd, which also happens to be my favorite loop that I take on my drives after work. Take Dromedary road to access Red Rock Road, please be mindful of the residential speed limit and on the upper loop, 10 mph is just about right.

There are many beautiful homes in these area. The David and Gladys Wright House, the Tovrea Castle and my favorite, the Copenhaver Castle. I am sad that I missed the opportunity to tour the grounds. It appears that they are doing construction on the Castle as of summer 2025. The skywalk looks amazing and I dream of taking a picture from it. If you can help make that happen, please click HERE to send an e-mail.