PHOENIX — The City of Phoenix Parks and Recreation Department is considering expanding trail closures during extreme heat.
Right now, Piestewa Peak and Camelback Mountain close from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on days that the National Weather Service issues a heat warning.
Phoenix is now considering closing the trails down two hours earlier — from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. — on those days. It would also be in effect year-round on NWS Heat Warning days, rather than only in the summer months from May to October.
The Parks and Recreation Department advertises these closures through social media, email, website notifications, and at trailheads on days leading up to the heat warning and the day of a heat warning.
Since implementing the trail closures, there has been a decrease in the number of mountain rescues that have to be performed, the city says. However, a number of rescues are still happening during current closure hours.
The city also says rescues take place more frequently between 10 a.m. and 12 p.m., which means hikers get on the trail before the 11 a.m. closure and then find themselves in dangerous conditions.
The city says, in 2020, there were five heat warning days in the month of April, which is a busy tourist month.
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The trail closure pilot program went into effect in 2021.
