Piestewa Peak is one of the most climbed mountains in Arizona. Before sunrise, a steady stream of hikers climbs the steep Summit Trail, chasing views of the Valley and a quick desert workout.

But like many Phoenix trails, the mountain’s future as public land was far from guaranteed.

At one point, the slopes around the peak could have easily become part of the surrounding neighborhoods.

Through the 1950s and 1960s, Phoenix grew at an incredible pace. New subdivisions spread across the Valley floor as the population surged. Areas around the base of Piestewa Peak, particularly along what is now Northern Avenue and SR-51, began filling in with homes.

Unlike large regional parks such as South Mountain, the peaks in central Phoenix were smaller and more vulnerable to piecemeal development. Hillsides with scenic views were often considered prime real estate for custom homes.

Without intervention, many of the smaller mountain ranges scattered through the city could have slowly disappeared into surrounding subdivisions.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, local leaders and residents began pushing for a new idea: preserving the desert mountain ranges inside the city.

This effort eventually became the Phoenix Mountains Preserve, a network of protected desert land stretching across central Phoenix. Instead of allowing development to fill every gap between neighborhoods, the city began acquiring and protecting mountains like Piestewa Peak, North Mountain, and Shaw Butte.

Land purchases, public funding, and long term planning helped secure these areas before development pressure made preservation impossible.

The result was something unusual for a growing American city: a connected system of desert mountains preserved right in the middle of the metro area.

For most of its modern history, the mountain was known as Squaw Peak. In 2003, the name was officially changed to Piestewa Peak in honor of Army Specialist Lori Piestewa, the first Native American woman in U.S. history to die in combat while serving in the military.

The renaming sparked debate across Arizona, but it also connected the mountain to a modern story of service and recognition.

Today the peak carries both its long history as a Phoenix landmark and a name that reflects a more recent chapter in Arizona history.

The Summit Trail that thousands of hikers climb each week exists because the mountain itself was preserved. Without the Phoenix Mountains Preserve movement, Piestewa Peak could have looked very different.

Instead of a trailhead parking lot and steep desert switchbacks, the slopes might have been lined with hillside homes. The summit views could have belonged to a handful of backyards rather than the public.

Instead, Piestewa Peak remains one of the most accessible desert summits in the Valley.

For Phoenix hikers, it stands as proof that a growing city can still protect the landscapes that define it.

Rooftops or ridgelines. Someone chose.