PARK PLACE PHOENIX'S OPEN SPACES GIVE VISITORS ROOM TO ROAM.

Byline: Story by Eric Noland Travel Editor

PHOENIX - The company was plentiful, though not the conventional urban kind. A cottontail rabbit scurried for the cover of a creosote bush. All manner of shy desert birds could be heard, but seldom seen. At one point a mountain cyclist shot past in a whir of gears and a puff of labored breath - the only human company in two hours on a dusty trail. Lizards were positively legion.

Every now and then, a passenger jet would rumble overhead on approach to Sky Harbor International Airport. It was about the only indication that this world lay within Phoenix's city limits.

Otherwise, the segment of the National Trail in the Guadalupe Mountains, en route to Fat Man's Pass, was pleasantly desolate.

It's all by design. Phoenix, despite its infamy as one of the most sprawling desert communities in the Southwest, nonetheless has an absolute wealth of public parkland. Its mountain preserves, desert preserves and city parks comprise nearly 37,000 acres, which places the city third in the nation behind Jacksonville, Fla., and San Diego, according to the Trust for Public Land in Washington, D.C.

Of course, uninitiated visitors might first have to rethink the traditional concept of ``park.'' This is the lower Sonoran desert, so don't expect to find leafy trees, broad expanses of lawn or fragrant hybrid tea roses. The desert can be exotically beautiful in its own right, though, and if you welcome open space as an antidote to the mind-numbing sameness of Phoenix's residential and commercial profile, you'll probably find solace in these protected regions.

Variety, too.

Climb to an archaeological site where Hohokam Indians charted the seasons more than six centuries ago. Stroll through the Phoenix Zoo to get acquainted with the many critters who have adapted to the harsh environment of the Southwest. Survey a hardy, prickly array of cactus and succulents in the Desert Botanical Garden, along with displays on how natives relied on various plants for sustenance. Poke among stone buildings and shelters that were constructed by Civilian Conservation Corps workers during the Great Depression.

Or break a sweat. The road networks are limited in the preserves, but 200 miles of trails await anyone keen on biking through a gulley or hiking to the summit of a craggy peak.

``If you look at an aerial photograph of our town, the parks look like islands. They're very accessible,'' said Jim Burke, deputy director of the city's parks and recreation department, which administers the preserves.

That's also a gentle way of acknowledging the development that has long since oozed to the very edges of the protected lands. Be thankful for community activism that reaches back eight decades.

South Mountain Park, directly south of the airport, was established in 1924 when local residents were worried about losing horseback-riding and picnic opportunities. Other protection efforts followed in the '50s (Papago Park), '60s (Camelback Mountain) and '70s (Piestewa Peak).

(Piestewa Peak, formerly Squaw Peak, was recently renamed for Army Pfc. Lori Piestewa, a young Hopi woman from Arizona who was killed in the Iraq War. The signs in the area have yet to be changed, however.)

South Mountain Park, a broad swath that encompasses the Gila, Guadalupe and Ma Ha Tuak mountain ranges, is the most extensive of the preserves. In fact, at 16,500 acres, it is the largest city park in the nation, said Tim Merritt, a recreation coordinator who was manning the front desk at the visitor center one recent morning.

It was in the depths of that park, along a stretch of the 14.3-mile National Trail, that the rabbit, the lizards, the birds and that lone cyclist provided my only company.

If you'd prefer the comfort of numbers - and a guide - the parks department offers several interpretative walks during the fall and early winter months. Among the disparate subjects covered are petroglyphs, geology, the desert at night (conducted during a full moon), healthy lifestyle, desert plants, dog care and training for long-distance desert hikes. Information: www.phoenix.gov/parks/hikes.html.

South Mountain Park also has a number of rustic stone buildings, constructed in the 1930s by CCC laborers. One of their elaborate shelters stands at Dobbin's Lookout, where visitors are treated to an unmatched view of Phoenix.

Don't worry - you can drive to it (although Holbert Trail is a more interesting route). The park road ascends past Telegraph Pass - where the Army Signal Corps laid a telegraph line through a low notch in the mountains in 1873 - to the lookout point, which is at an elevation of 2,330 feet. Phoenix's downtown cluster of high-rises pokes up from a spreading blanket of concrete and red roof tile.

For a sense of what life was like here long before 1.3 million people crammed into these city limits (and thousands more spilled into the neighboring communities of Scottsdale, Mesa, Tempe, Chandler and Glendale), head to Papago Park, just northeast of the airport.

This 1,200-acre preserve is home to the zoo, the botanical garden and a public golf course, but my favorite feature is Hole in the Rock. From a cluster of picnic ramadas - park in the lot for ramada R8 - a short trail climbs to a natural, two-sided cave.

Hohokam Indians living here early in the first millennium used the hole as a calendar device, carefully marking the progress of the sun's rays on the floor of the cave over the course of a year. In this manner, they kept track of solstices and equinoxes, and could gauge the optimal times for planting crops.

Although the desert air might seem perfectly still most days, a cooling breeze funnels through the Hole in the Rock as if through the mouthpiece of a woodwind instrument.

More native anthropology is addressed a short distance away at the Desert Botanical Garden, an impressive, 145-acre expanse that is home to hundreds of cactuses and succulents. One dirt-path loop examines native life in the desert, inviting young visitors to grind mesquite beans in a stone mortar or make a paint brush from a yucca strand.

The Phoenix Zoo is also popular with youngsters - in part because the desert fauna feed into so many creepy childhood phobias. Along the Arizona Trail, exhibits provide up-close looks at diamondback rattlesnakes, hairy scorpions, pink-and-black gila monsters, tarantulas, turkey vultures and mountain lions. ``We're trying to capture a snapshot of Arizona and give the tourist what they could find walking around the desert,'' said Kevin Wright, one of the zoo's directors.

The zoo doesn't have a particularly large animal population, nor a diverse one, but that is owed primarily to the climate. It wouldn't make much sense to ask a polar bear or a community of penguins to adapt to heat that can be in triple digits for days on end in summer.

``We could keep a wide range (of animals) if we supported them with air-conditioned buildings, but we've chosen to go with animals that can adapt to our conditions, so that we can keep them in open cages,'' Wright said.

Even at that, some of the animals are afforded some relief. I noticed a misting machine - much like the ones the resorts place near the pool bars - discreetly mounted to a tree in the meerkat enclosure. It may be hot in the meerkat's homeland of South Africa, but it isn't Phoenix-hot.

The variety of experiences available in Phoenix's parks is one of its strengths, said Peter Harnik, an environmental writer with the Trust for Public Land. ``They have a plan whereby they're preserving different kinds of land - playgrounds, ecological preserves, historic sites,'' he said. ``This appeals to all different types of users.''

But because of the parks' proximity to residential areas, some of the most avid users are simply fitness enthusiasts. That was my conclusion, at least, the morning I scaled Piestewa Peak.

The mountain stabs to an elevation of 2,608 feet just northeast of downtown, and the trail to the summit is a bear - 1,208 feet of elevation gain in just 1.2 miles. ``Our local Stairmaster,'' said Burke, the parks and recreation official.

Just after dawn, the parking area was already nearly full and the mountain looked like an anthill. Some people were walking up briskly and jogging back down. It is, indeed, a stout little trail, and will get your heart pumping.

If you feel the need to bag this trophy, do so early in the day, before the sun turns it into a griddle. But take plenty of water nonetheless. Phoenix's fire department logged 112 mountain rescues in its parks last year, and 40 of those involved injured or exhausted people who were plucked off this peak, often by helicopter. Another 31 needed assistance on nearby Camelback Mountain, which might be an even more grueling ascent.

There are a number of nice overlooks of the city on the way to the top of Piestewa, but few people bothered with them. These parks are, after all, urban ones - many climbers wore headphones, sealing out the sounds of a tranquil desert morning, and most passed on the trail without a word or a look. It sounded as if more than a few business meetings were being conducted in stride.

If you don't have an office to rush off to, the summit is well worth lingering over (few hikers stayed for more than a couple of minutes). The view is 360 degrees and superb. Off to the south, you'll spy a vast patch of open land, noteworthy for its lack of habitation. That's South Mountain Park.

Maybe there's a city escapee up at Dobbin's Lookout at this precise moment of the morning, gazing appreciatively in this direction.

Eric Noland, [phone]

eric.noland(at)dailynews.com

CITY PARKLAND

American cities with the most acres devoted to public parks, according to the Trust for Public Land:

1. Jacksonville, Fla. (49,785)

2. San Diego (38,993)

3. Phoenix (36,944)

4. New York (36,646)

5. Los Angeles (30,134)

6. El Paso, Texas (26,372)

7. Dallas (21,670)

8. Houston (21,252)

9. Albuquerque, N.M. (17,746)

10. Honolulu (17,538)

IF YOU GO

GETTING AROUND: Phoenix and its parks and preserves are pretty tough to negotiate without a car, but brace for some larcenous add-on charges on a rented vehicle. The base cost for my three-day rental with Dollar was $63. The additional taxes and fees amounted to more than $30 - a soaking of nearly 50 percent.

PAPAGO PARK: Just northeast of the airport, roughly between McDowell Road and Washington Street. Galvin Parkway cuts through the park on a north-south axis, and the park's primary features can be reached from this road. Among them:

--Desert Botanical Garden. From October through April it is open daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Admission is $7.50 for adults, $6.50 for seniors age 60 and up, $3.50 for children ages 3 to 12. Docent-led tours available at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. From May through September the garden opens an hour earlier. [phone]; www.dbg.org.

--Hole in the Rock. There are no road signs guiding visitors to this archaeological site, or even signs identifying its general vicinity. To reach it, drive into the zoo but continue on past the parking lot to an area of picnic armadas. Park in the lot for ramada R8 and you'll find a short trail leading up to the natural cave.

--Phoenix Zoo. Off Galvin Parkway. From now through May 31, the zoo is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (7 a.m. to 4 p.m. in summer). Winter admission is $12 for adults, $9 for seniors, $5 for children ages 3 to 12. During the summer, adult admission is $9, senior admission $7. Bikes are available for rental for a ride through the zoo, which is on relatively flat ground. Pedal boats can be rented on Main Lake. There is also a narrated train ride through the zoo. [phone]; www.phoenixzoo.org.

PIESTEWA PEAK: To reach the trailhead to Piestewa Peak, drive east on Glendale Avenue (from the 51 Freeway) and turn left on Squaw Peak Drive into the park. If you aren't up to the rigors (and the crowds) of the summit hike, you might want to consider the circumference trail. It originates in this same area (it's Trail No. 302).

SOUTH MOUNTAIN PARK: From the heart of Phoenix, drive south on Central Avenue, which eventually heads directly into the heart of the park. This route will take you to the visitors center, which has the somewhat cumbersome name of South Mountain Environmental Education Center. This is a good place to get oriented for a visit. It is open Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

INFORMATION: Phoenix Parks and Recreation Department: [phone]; www.phoenix.gov/parks.

CAPTION(S):

6 photos, 2 boxes, map

Photo:

(1 -- 3 -- color) There are plenty of wide-open spaces within the city limits of Phoenix. Visitors can explore stark desert landscapes in South Mountain Park, top; climb to Hole in the Rock, above, and American Indian archaeological site in Papago Park; or, also in Papago Park, commune with the hardy critters at the Phoenix Zoo, above right.

(4) The trail up Piestewa Peak in Phoenix is rocky and rugged, but nonetheless popular with the city's early-morning joggers.

(5 -- 6) The summit of Piestewa Peak provides a sweeping view of the city, top. Rustic stone structures in South Mountain Park, above, were built during the Great Depression.

Eric Noland/Travel Editor

Box:

(1) CITY PARKLAND

(2) IF YOU GO (see text)

Map:

PHOENIX

Gregg Miller/Staff Artist