"In a way, it felt like the most difficult part of this peak was finding the place to park! It's parallel parking on the street in a neighborhood; thankfully there were not many people there when we arrived. I can see how neighbors could get irritated quickly. (It's a common issue in Phoenix, I'm finding.) There were lots of "extra" trails cross-crossing the area; in the end, though, you go up, and then you come back down. We elected to make a loop out of it because of a family with small children who started the (pretty steep) descent not long after we got to the peak. The route is decent trail for the most part - just steep. I'm finding that most of these Phoenix city park trails are two things: short and STEEP. It becomes more rocky/light class 2 for the last 50ish feet to the summit. Pretty day, very warm for February. I had just ran a 5K down at Tempe town lake and was in the area, so wanted to knock this and Lookout Mountain off my list. " — psychikingjes • Feb 13, 2022

"Pretty straightforward trail up to shadow mountain from "Park and Hike" start. There are multiple trails in the area that go around the mountain, but if you keep going straight from the "Park and Hike" trail start without really making any turns on forks, you'll naturally go up to the peak.The last section of the trail requires very some light scrambling, but it's not bad at all." — easotelo1 • Mar 6, 2020

"After summiting point 1845, I hurried down to the saddle, then power hiked up to the summit of Shadow. I hurried down, then ran where I could back to my wife and son, who were waiting in the car. The temperature was in the 100's, and I didn't want them waiting too long. It was a fun workout in the heat." — ZachTeich • Jun 1, 2018

"no route finding issues, you can get there many different ways. I went straight, came to a left or right decision, took a left , led up a small hill and then you literally see all the trail options. The last 50 yards is straight up and fun. Nice views from the top." — puddlepirate • Apr 17, 2018

"Very few hikers in this area despite being in the heart of a neighborhood. The trail is unmarked but with a little bit of judgement it is easy to make the right turns at the junctions. The rugged higher ridge gives a mountain feeling and adds some fun to the "remoteness in the city"." — Gabsolute • Mar 9, 2017

"Quick after work hike to stretch the legs with my girlfriend. This was our first summit of this peak. It had some interesting parts - especially towards the top, but the area close to Cave Creek was kinda trashed. beer bottles, and old clothes, of all things. There are no trail signs that I could see beyond the start, so it was hard to tell if you were on the right trail. But the last 50 yards or so to get to the top was fun with a great view." — lawrencebaker • Oct 21, 2016