Canal Trailhead — Attraction in Tempe

I actually love this place, unfortunately there are alot of homeless around. They usually dont bother anyone, one night they started a camp fire, very sad to see. There are grills at Tempe Town Lake to use. There are Indian ruins at the top. You can weave in and out through the freeway overpasses to the lake back to the trail. You can walk all the way to hole on the rock, and the governor's tomb behind the zoo. If you go early enough you can see the zoo keepers feed the mountain Goats. You can even walk to the mountains by McDowell with the stairs, and walk behind the SRP resivoure. To me it's a little peice of heaven. I do wish the people hiking, walking, biking, running, and the homeless respected it more and took better care of the park. Pick up your...

Kinda hard to find actually, not a clear entry way in. Granted, I have a very terrible sense of direction, but I was following the route Google maps provided. And I had a hard time locating the starting point.

Also- and I mean this completely without judgement- there are a good amount of homeless people camping out on the trail. Mainly around the entrance. I get it, as the surrounding area is relatively safe and full of shade, hidden away from the sun. Maybe it's because of the changing seasons, as we are entering into fall. Who knows?

But as a young woman walking alone it was a little less than ideal. So, just a fair warning to anyone, maybe just walk with another person at the very least for your own...

For this trailhead, there's limited parking along N. College Ave, or if you don't mind a 5-8 minute stroll, you can park in the Tempe Town Lake Parking Lot (off-street parking). From this trailhead, if you turn left you go into the LoPiano Bosque Habitat and then if you continue to the right you eventually get to the Papago playground area which is where the trail stops. While walking on this trail, you hear the water flowing (like a stream). The trail just seemed a bit short, and it was mostly flat and straight which made it feel...