What is the Ringtail Trailhead?
Ringtail is a parking lot on 128th Street that connects directly to Preserve trail.
The Ringtail Trailhead is one of the official access points to the southern McDowell Sonoran Preserve. The city lists it at the 12300 block of N. 128th Street, north of Cactus Road, in the east-Shea neighborhoods below the McDowells. Its amenities line on the city website reads “Parking, no drinking water.” There are no restrooms, ramada, water fountain or visitor building.
From the lot you step onto the Ringtail Trail. It is the eastern side of the trail network that most people know from the Lost Dog Wash Trailhead, a short distance west on 124th Street. The city’s trail map puts the lot at 1,739 feet. The Ringtail Trail heads north to a junction with the Sunrise Trail, then continues to the Lost Dog Overlook at about 2,000 feet. By the map’s segment lengths, the overlook is about 1.3 miles from your car. The Anasazi Spur runs west along the Preserve edge back toward Lost Dog Wash, so short loops are easy to put together.
The Preserve is free and open sunrise to sunset. Dogs are allowed on a leash, and the trails are shared with bikes and horses.
How to use Ringtail well
Come here when Lost Dog is full. Lost Dog Wash is the busy, family-friendly trailhead for the southern Preserve. Ringtail reaches the same network from a smaller curbside lot a little to the east. On cool-season weekend mornings, check Ringtail before you circle the 124th Street lot.
Bring everything. The lot has no water, no restrooms and no shade. Fill up at home, and plan on a liter per person even for a short loop in cool weather. If you need a restroom, Lost Dog Wash has them and is a short walk west on the Anasazi Spur.
Pick a loop. All distances below come from adding the segment lengths on the city’s 2026 South Area map.
- Short loop, about 2 miles. Go north on Ringtail to the Sunrise Trail junction (marker SR17), take the connector southwest to the Anasazi Spur, and follow it back east to the lot.
- Overlook loop, about 3 miles. Climb Ringtail past SR17 to the Lost Dog Overlook (RT5). Descend toward the Lost Dog Wash Trail and return on the Anasazi Spur. You gain only a few hundred feet.
- Longer day. At SR17, turn east on the Sunrise Trail toward Sunrise Peak. It is a long, steady climb, so start early.
Use the markers. Sign posts around the Preserve carry emergency markers with codes such as RT1 or SR17, and the city map shows all of them. If you need help, give emergency responders the code of the nearest marker.
Respect the neighborhood. The lot sits on a residential street. Park only in the trailhead spaces, keep your voice down at dawn, and if the lot is full, go to Lost Dog Wash.
Summer. From May through September, be on the trail at first light and off by mid-morning. Leave the dog at home whenever it will be over 90 degrees. Our summer sunrise hiking rules cover the rest.
Why a trailhead this small exists
When Scottsdale planned public access to the Preserve, it did not plan only big trailheads. The Preserve Commission’s Access Areas Report, first approved in March 1999 and amended in December 2010, set out a hierarchy. At the top is one gateway. Below it come major and minor community access areas, and below those are numerous local access points sized for the neighborhoods around them. The Lost Dog Wash area near Cactus Road and 124th Street was named early as a major community access area for the fast-growing Shea corridor. It became the award-winning trailhead on 124th Street.
Ringtail is the other half of that idea. It has no building and no amenities, only parking and a trail sign, placed where the trails already reach the edge of the subdivisions. The city now treats it as an official trailhead: it is listed on the Preserve web page and appears on the city’s Spring 2026 South Area trail map with its own parking symbol and elevation.
The Lost Dog Wash Trailhead was built to give the public a proper entrance to the Preserve. Ringtail spreads that same access along the neighborhood edge, so not everyone has to drive to the one big lot.