Nature
Piestewa Peak is a 2,610-foot summit in Phoenix’s mountain preserve, the second-highest point in the Phoenix Mountains and one of the city’s most prominent urban hikes. Formed about 14 million years ago from much older schist, it rises in lower Sonoran Desert habitat with cacti, palo verde, mesquite, wildflowers, reptiles, mammals, and birds. Its steep Summit Trail climbs 1,208 feet in 1.2 miles, making it heavily used but more difficult than its length suggests, especially in extreme summer heat. Renamed in 2003 for Army Specialist Lori Ann Piestewa, the peak also became part of a broader public debate in Arizona over derogatory place names, memory, and commemoration.
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Phoenix, Arizona · United States
