GOOD|GOAT Challenges Unannounced Echo Canyon Trailhead Hours Change
GOOD|GOAT is calling out the City's unannounced decision to delay Echo Canyon's trailhead opening from 4:30 AM to 5:00 AM, which has left cars illegally stuck outside the gates each morning and, combined with the summer 8 AM–5 PM hiking restriction, squeezes out older and less experienced hikers before the heat closure.
The City of Phoenix has changed the opening time at the Echo Canyon trailhead on Camelback Mountain from its longstanding 4:30 AM start to 5:00 AM, with no public announcement, disclosure, or adoption at a public meeting.
The result: cars are now left waiting outside the locked gates each morning, in violation of the Town of Paradise Valley's rule against vehicles waiting outside the trailhead. Combined with the City's existing 8:00 AM–5:00 PM summer hiking restriction, the later start also shrinks the safe hiking window before the heat closure — a burden that falls hardest on older and less experienced hikers.
GOOD|GOAT is calling on the City to explain the basis for the change, restore public input to decisions like this, and resolve the conflict it has created with Paradise Valley's no-waiting rule. Full details are available at /cases/echo-canyon-hours.