Brown’s Ranch Trailhead

Pristine trails. They’re not crowded and there is plenty of parking. Biking the trails is very popular but a little dangerous. It’s for experienced riders.

My son & I loved this trail! Friendly volunteers who showed us different trails that they recommend. Ample parking & 5 star bathrooms.
Great for mountain biking too. We will bring our bikes in the future. There are plenty of trails to choose from with varying degrees of flat to hilly so not a tough but good workout. Bonus is the beautiful scenery!
Enjoy your hike this is a true gem!

Pretty desert scenery! Free ample parking and the trails are very well marked. The trailhead has a lot of information about the area and there are bathrooms. Trails have varying degrees of difficulty. We hiked around the cone mountain trail, which circles around cone mountain so it is fairly flat, about 4 miles round trip. Bring water! The sun gets hot if you are out there after 10am.

Horse feces everywhere. Some horses startled by the bikers and hikers. Mountain bikers going extremely fast (most trails are fast for them) and can easily hit you, your dog, your child, etc. And seems like quite a few don’t exactly have the skill to be going that fast.
Ugly powerlines go across the main part of these trails and many of the trails require you to walk under the powerlines for a long time or else take a much longer route (all that snap, crackle, pop isn’t comforting). Ruins the view much of the time.
Also seems to be popular with some bowhunters who are too lazy to go out into a more appropriate and less populated area to do their thing.
Quite a few casual hikers in everyday clothes come here with a minivan full of kids who know nothing about trail etiquette, occupy the entire trail so nobody can pass, don’t maintain control of their kids, and make for an unpleasant mix with many of the above factors mentioned.
And lastly, too many superficially friendly people here — do you realize that if you make it your policy to say «hello» to everyone that this will involve upwards of a 100 or so hellos on a decent hike here? Do you people do this at Disneyland or at the State Fair too? Sheez.

Great all purpose trail, we went mountain biking and the trail was wide open. Beautiful views, you can even see University of Phoenix Stadium! They have facilities and you can read some of the history of the valley.

Apparently, when it’s rainy and cold (hovering around 50F) Phoenicians do not venture out to the trails because I had the WHOLE park to myself– not another soul in sight except for the ranger who greeted me then promptly went into his office.
At first I hesitated to venture onto the trail as an urbanite, I was a bit awed by the silence of being in the vast preserve as the only person out in the open.
Then I told myself I had driven all this way in the rain, whole time not knowing if I would hike to just walk for ten minutes and turn around so my driving in getting there was not wasted.
I bundled up in my down jacket, gloves, and hat– put on my headphones w my Tibetan meditation music and just started walking on the well groomed, wide trail with no expectations.
And you know what?
It was divine, it was heavenly, it was purity to just walk with no need to make conversation or to hurry to keep pace with a group. And it was cold and lightly raining but after awhile, I warmed up and forgot about the light rain.
The surrounding was serene and peaceful that I felt so grateful for the preserve. I said my thank you to the people who created the preserve. It was simply a perfect existence.
I followed the trail and decided to hike to Brown’s Summit and really the whole trail is easy. In fact this is a perfect beginner trail for someone who want to try trail running. Even the ascent to the summit is not bad.
There was a moment of mysticism when I was sitting at the summit taking in the view. It started to rain harder and then the whole summit got covered in clouds. I could see the clouds coming and forming. It was so thick for a bit that I could not see the hand in front of me. In all my years of living in Phoenix, this was the first time for me to experience something like this– so much like Yellow mountain in China.
It was so calming, so centering to be there at that moment.
Then I started my hike back to my car– it was so cold, my iphone froze and that was fine too. I hiked in silence. Again, no expectations.
What a fantastic preserve. There are quite a few affluent homes in the area, I hope they take the time to hike & enjoy this treasure.

Brown’s Ranch TH is one of the main trailheads of the McDowell Sonoran Preserve.
This morning the McDowell Sonoran Conservancy was hosting a hike and history walk. That’s not the actual name but that’s basically the breakdown. We would hike for a little while and then get a briefing on some of the history that had affected Arizona. Anything from, horrible plagues that killed thousands of people or grand massacres in the name of God, Gold and Glory… it was pretty sweet.
Anywho, I haven’t had a chance to do a great deal of exploring here. We were on the Brown’s Ranch Road trail today and it would be easy for anyone of even minimal fitness level. It’s quite flat and not rugged.
I want to come back and check out the mountain summit trails. Based on the map, it looks like there are two close to this TH, Cone Mtn and Brown’s Mtn. Those may be more of a challenge. I’ll update later.
There’s plenty of parking at this TH. At least there was on a weekday morning. I haven’t been here on the weekend. There’s also a large building with bathrooms similar to the other Preserve trailheads.
If you haven’t hiked in the Preserve, it’s a must-​do. Whether it’s here or at one of the other trailheads, just get out there and enjoy it. Happy Hiking!