The Camelback Mountain Echo Canyon to Cholla Trail is a 5.7 mile loop in Phoenix that mixes pavement, scrambling, and about 1,500 feet of climbing. It’s iconic for a reason, but “iconic” doesn’t always mean “great running.”
Here’s what the Echo Canyon to Cholla loop is actually like, who should run it, and who should skip it.
Camelback Mountain at a Glance
- Route type
- Loop
- Start → finish
- N Invergordon Road → same starting point
- Highest point
- Camelback Mountain summit · 2,706 ft
- Terrain
- Pavement, steep rock, loose footing and hands-on scrambling
- Exposure
- Open desert with loose rock and steep drop-offs near the summit
- Route
- Echo Canyon → summit → Cholla Trail
- Scrambling
- Approximately 40% of the route is hiking or scrambling
- Water
- Carry at least 1–1.5 L · bring more during summer
For a complete list of trails, be sure to check out my Trail Running Route Database where I add, review, and recommend every trail I’ve run around the world.
Should you run it?
Honestly, it depends. This isn’t a trail for a pure run, at least not for most runners. It’s too steep, rocky, and technical to hold a rhythm on (unless you’re the Kilian Jornet type). Add the usual crowds and it gets even tougher. But, if you want a varied mix of running, hiking, and scrambling with some of the best views in Phoenix, it delivers.
Run it if you:
- Love variety over a straight, flowy run
- Want vertical training (roughly 1,200 feet of gain in a mile on the Echo Canyon trail alone)
- Don’t mind stopping for views (I call it sightrunning)
Skip it if you:
- Want a 100% runnable trail
- Don’t want to deal with crowds
Trailhead directions
Park along N Invergordon Road, near the Cholla trailhead, not the Echo Canyon lot. Echo Canyon fills fast (bumper-to-bumper by 9am), and the road miles from Invergordon doubles as a warm-up. Parallel parking runs along the street; arrive by 6:00-6:15am for the best chance at a spot.
The route
- Run north on Invergordon, west on E McDonald Drive to the Echo Canyon trailhead (~1 mi, flat pavement)
- Climb Echo Canyon Trail (1.2 mi, steep scrambling)
- Summit (2,706 ft, 360° views of Phoenix)
- Descend Cholla Trail (1.3 mi, still somewhat technical but less crowded)
- Run back to your car on Invergordon
Echo Canyon: Wide and somewhat runnable for the first quarter mile, then it turns into power-hiking and scrambling. Crowds are the real slowdown, sometimes even early: hikers, families, people stopping for photos at the switchbacks.
- Liked: challenging climb, real upper-body/core work, clear trail markers, hard to get lost
- Frustrated by: crowds, constant stop-and-go, zero rhythm for longer than a minute
Cholla (descent): Less crowded than Echo Canyon usually and, in my opinion, the better trail for running. The top third is sketchy (loose rock and some exposure) but it opens up below that and you can actually run real stretches.
- Liked: fewer crowds, better flow past the top section, more runnable overall
- Watch for: loose rock and exposure near the top
Photos from the trail
Logistics
- Budget 1.5-2 hours minimum, depending on how much you stop
- Bring at least 1-1.5L of water, more in summer because Arizona heat doesn’t care what time it is
- Take the technical sections slow. Loose rock and steep drop-offs aren’t worth rushing.
- Yield to uphill traffic. This is one of the busiest trails in Phoenix at almost any hour.
Nearby trails
If you enjoyed Camelback Mountain, here are some trail options nearby you may enjoy as well:
- Treasure Loop Trail (~3 miles)
Camelback Mountain FAQs
How long does it take to run Camelback Mountain?
Is Camelback Mountain hard to run?
Do you need a permit to run Camelback Mountain?
Can you run the whole Camelback Mountain loop?
Stop guessing. Plan the trip without screwing up the run.
The free Runcation Kit gives you the planning framework, packing checklist, and route-finding system I use to make running part of the trip without letting it take over.
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