Echo Canyon Trailhead Hours Changed Without Public Notice

Earlier this month, the City changed the opening time at the Echo Canyon trailhead on Camelback Mountain from its decades-old 4:30 AM start to 5:00 AM. The change was made without any public announcement, disclosure, or explanation, and it was not adopted at a public meeting.

The practical effect has been immediate and disruptive. Hikers who have shown up at 4:30 AM for years — well before sunrise, to beat the desert heat — now find the gates locked for another thirty minutes. Every morning, numerous cars are left waiting outside the trailhead for the gates to open. This is not a minor inconvenience: the Town of Paradise Valley does not allow vehicles to wait outside the gates, so hikers arriving at the old, long-standing time are now doing so illegally, creating both a logistical bottleneck and a legal exposure for people who did nothing more than show up when they always have.

Compounding the problem, the City has also imposed a summer hiking restriction that closes the trail from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM. The Echo Canyon round trip is 2.5 miles, but depending on a hiker's fitness and experience, it can take anywhere from 1.5 to 3 hours to complete. Pushing the opening time back by thirty minutes, combined with the 8:00 AM cutoff, meaningfully shrinks the usable window before the heat restriction kicks in — a change that falls hardest on older hikers and those who are less experienced or out of shape, and who need more of that early-morning window to safely finish before the trail closes.

GOOD|GOAT objects to how this decision was made and to its real-world consequences: a schedule change with no public process, no advance notice, and no apparent consideration of the legal and safety problems it would create for the people who use this trail every day. We are calling on the City to explain the basis for the change, restore public input to decisions like this one, and address the conflict it has created with Paradise Valley's no-waiting rule.

The City has separately disclosed that Echo Canyon Trail will close entirely from September 2 through September 18, 2026, to install new automatic gates and repair safety cables. The closure follows recent remarks by Phoenix Parks and Recreation Deputy Director Jarod Rogers to the City's Public Safety and Justice Subcommittee, in which he described a rollout of electronic signage, cameras, and automated gates at Camelback Mountain and other trailheads as a tool for enforcing scheduled closures without added park ranger staffing. GOOD|GOAT has not confirmed a direct link between this technology rollout and the unannounced 4:30 AM to 5:00 AM change, but the timing and stated purpose raise questions worth watching alongside our other concerns about this decision.