Gateway Loop Trail Hiking Guide
If you have time for exactly one hike in Scottsdale, the Gateway Loop is the sensible answer. Four and a half miles of well-graded trail carry you through dense saguaro forest to the Gateway Saddle, where the McDowell Mountains open up in both directions, then bring you back on the far side of the ridge. It asks for real effort without demanding the scrambling of Tom's Thumb, which is exactly why it is the busiest trail in the preserve.
The Loop
The circuit runs about 4.4 miles with roughly 700 feet of gain, climbing steadily to the saddle at roughly the halfway point before descending back through the bajada. Most people go counterclockwise. The tread is wide, firm and well signed at every junction, which matters because the preserve's trail network branches repeatedly and it is easy to wander onto a longer route by accident. Two to two and a half hours is a normal pace.
The Gateway Trailhead
The Gateway Trailhead on East Bell Road is the preserve's flagship facility: a large lot, restrooms, water, shade structures and a staffed information desk on many days. It is free. It also fills completely on cool-season weekend mornings, sometimes by seven, and the overflow situation is poor. Weekday mornings and summer evenings are far calmer, and the volunteer stewards at the trailhead are a genuinely good source of current conditions.
Sharing With Mountain Bikers
This is a multi-use preserve and the Gateway Loop is popular with riders, some of them moving quickly on the descents. Hikers have the right of way in theory, but the practical approach is to stay right, listen for approaching wheels, and step aside on blind corners rather than standing on principle. Leashed dogs are permitted and common; keep the lead short on the narrower sections where bikes pass.
The Saguaro Forest
The lower half of the loop passes through as dense a stand of saguaro as you will find close to the city, with palo verde, ironwood and cholla filling in beneath them. In a wet spring the brittlebush turns the slopes yellow and the saguaros flower in late May. Interpretive signage covers the preserve's conservation story, which is worth reading: this land was assembled deliberately over decades by a city that could easily have built on it instead.
Heat, Water and Season
There is no shade on the climb and no water beyond the trailhead. From May to September the loop becomes a dawn-only proposition and the preserve posts heat warnings. October through April is superb, with winter mornings cool enough to need a layer at the start. Rattlesnakes are active in the warmer months; the wide trail makes them easy to spot and avoid if you are paying attention to the ground ahead.
Hiking tips for Gateway Loop Trail
- Arrive before seven on cool-season weekends — the Gateway lot fills early and the overflow options are genuinely bad.
- Ask the trailhead stewards about conditions; they staff the desk most days and know what has changed recently.
- Watch junctions carefully, since the preserve network branches repeatedly and it is easy to extend your loop by accident.
- Stay right and listen for bikes on the descents rather than assuming right of way will be respected at speed.
- Treat May through September as dawn-only, and carry all your water since there is none past the trailhead.
Nearby trails to explore
- Tom's Thumb
- Pinnacle Peak
- Piestewa Peak
Hike this trail with TrailMates
The Gateway Loop is the easiest Scottsdale trail to organise a group around, with a real trailhead and room to regroup. Use TrailMates to find Phoenix-area hikers meeting there before the lot fills. Download the TrailMates app to join a group.