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Maps of the South Mountain Park/Preserve area are available from the Pueblo Grande Museum located at 4619 E. Washington, Phx., AZ - 602-495-0901.  The City of Phoenix provides guided Hikes over several trails in the area (for a nominal fee).

The Buena Vista Lookout is just North of the parking circle at the end of the road.  The lookout is the trail head for Geronimo trail which heads down the ridge in a northerly direction and is now called Hieroglyphic Canyon trail.  The trail is easy to follow but it forks shortly after starting down the ridge.  Take the right fork.  Slightly less than a mile from the trailhead, near the bottom, there is a small branch trail that leads steeply down to the bottom of the wash on the right side of the trail.  Take the branch trail to the wash and then turn left to follow the wash to the Petroglyphs.  The Petroglyphs are located on both sides of the wash, just a short way past it's confluence with another wash entering from the right.  One of the City Rangers refers to this wash as a "Petroglyph Gallery", and our group certainly was not disappointed. 

I don't understand the name change.  Hieroglyphs are pictorial symbols in an organized language, such as ancient Egyptian.  There is little agreement about the meanings and purposes of the prehistoric Native American Petroglyphs, but no one proposes that they construct an organized language. Therefore the selection of the new name strikes me as somewhat bewildering, if not downright misleading.

During the guided trek, two rumors surfaced. (1) Access to the Petroglyphs from the bottom of the mountain is blocked by private land and (2) the Hieroglyphic Canyon Trail is closed to the public.  Which is interesting because there were absolutely no signs warning of these issues in evidence at the trailhead.  Until signs are posted to the contrary, I would treat only the portion of the trail from Buena Vista Lookout to the Petroglyph Gallery as a public trail.  The City of Phoenix literature rates this hike as Difficult because of the eroded trail and a rather steep climb back to the parking area.  

There is no water along the trail so be sure to bring enough for the weather conditions - remember to expect very high temperatures in the summer.  In addition to the usual trail etiquette, remember not to touch the Petroglyphs, they have suffered enough already under the ravages of time and vandals without the addition burden of oils from our hands.

Trekker