What is the Bajada Nature Trail?
The Bajada Nature Trail is the short, accessible trail at the Gateway Trailhead, the main entrance to the McDowell Sonoran Preserve at 18333 N. Thompson Peak Pkwy. It is about half a mile around, laid out as a figure eight, and a connector across the middle lets you cut it to a quarter-mile loop.
The surface is the reason it exists. According to the McDowell Sonoran Conservancy, the whole tread is hard, stabilized decomposed granite, typically 96 inches wide and never narrower than 72. The average grade is about 3 percent and the cross slope is typically 1 percent or less. That is gentle enough for wheelchairs, walkers and strollers, and for anyone who wants to stand among saguaros without climbing anything.
The name comes from the ground underneath. A bajada is the broad apron of gravel and sediment that washes down from a mountain range and spreads across the desert floor. The Gateway sits on the bajada below the McDowells, and the trail’s interpretive signs explain what that means for the washes, soils and plants you are walking past.
It is free, open sunrise to sunset, and starts a few steps from accessible parking, restrooms and drinking water.
How to walk it
Do the full figure eight. The short loop is there if you need it, but the whole half mile only takes ten or fifteen extra minutes, and the far end is quieter than the area by the building.
Read the signs. The interpretive panels are the point of the trail. They cover the bajada, desert plants and wildlife, and they are a better introduction to the Sonoran Desert than most of what you would get on a longer hike.
Plan around the parking. The Gateway is the busiest trailhead in the Preserve. From roughly November through April the main lot fills by about 7:30 on weekend mornings. Arrive earlier or come after 3 p.m. Accessible spaces are close to the trailhead.
Bring water and a hat anyway. Half a mile on flat ground sounds trivial, but there is little shade once you leave the building. In summer, walk it right after sunrise. The city’s dog rule applies here too: a handheld leash no longer than six feet, and if it will be over 90 degrees at any point, leave the dog at home.
Use it to split a group. The trail works well when one part of the party wants the 4.5-mile Gateway Loop and the other does not. The longer climbs, like the Windgate Pass–Bell Pass loop and Thompson Peak, start from the same lot.
Other accessible trails. The Preserve has several nature trails built for easier access. In the northern Preserve, the Jane Rau Interpretive Trail at Brown’s Ranch is similar, though its grades are steeper. Check its status before going, because its trailhead has been closed for construction.
Why an accessible trail at the front door
The Gateway Trailhead opened in 2009 as the Preserve’s main entrance. The city wanted it to be a place where people could experience the desert whatever their physical condition, and the Bajada Nature Trail was the practical answer. It was built beside the trailhead building, not a mile out, and graded and surfaced so a wheelchair could actually use it.
Most of the Preserve’s trails are decomposed granite over rock, with steps, ledges and loose gravel on the climbs. The Conservancy describes the terrain around the Gateway as rocky, with steep sections, except on the Bajada trail. Having one trail that is consistently wide, firm and nearly level is the difference between visiting the Preserve and looking at it from the parking lot.
The trail also does a lot of teaching. It is short enough to finish in well under an hour, and the bajada explains a lot about the landscape: why the washes run the way they do, why the saguaros grow where they do, and why the ground gets rougher the closer you get to the mountains.
Why it matters
Scottsdale voters taxed themselves twice, in 1995 and 2004, to buy this land. The Bajada Nature Trail makes sure that what they bought is open to people who will never hike the Gateway Loop. It is short and easy, and it may be the most important half mile in the Preserve.