The City of Glendale's posted construction schedule leaves Thunderbird Conservation Park with one trailhead lot for the rest of the year. Both the 59th Avenue lot and the 55th Avenue lot off Pinnacle Peak Road are scheduled to be closed. That leaves 67th Avenue and Patrick Lane as the only trailhead parking expected to be open between now and the end of December.
Every trail in the park stays open while the work goes on, and the city repeats that point in capital letters on the park page. The roughly 15 miles of multi-use trail through the Hedgpeth Hills are all still there. What has changed is where a hike starts, and that changes again in January.
The posted dates, month by month
The city's Thunderbird Conservation Park page gives three closure windows. It says all of them are subject to change:
- 59th Avenue lot, between Deer Valley and Pinnacle Peak roads: April 6, 2026, through December 2026
- 55th Avenue lot, off Pinnacle Peak Road: July 13, 2026, through February 2027
- 67th Avenue lot, at Patrick Lane: January 2027 through August 2027
Laid out by month, the overlaps look like this. The city posts months, not handoff days, so the table shows the same detail.
| Month | 59th Ave. lot | 55th Ave. lot | 67th Ave. & Patrick Ln. lot |
|---|---|---|---|
| Late October through December 2026 | Scheduled closed | Scheduled closed | Scheduled open |
| January 2027 | Scheduled to reopen after December | Scheduled closed | Scheduled closed |
| February 2027 | Scheduled open | Scheduled closed | Scheduled closed |
| March through August 2027 | Scheduled open | Scheduled to reopen after February | Scheduled closed |
On this schedule, two stretches have only one lot open: the rest of 2026 at 67th Avenue, and January and February 2027 at 59th Avenue. The park has three trailhead entrances in total, and the city lists no other public lot.
The timing adds pressure. Parks and Recreation Director John Kennedy told The Glendale Star that the park sees 75,000 to 80,000 visits a month and that parking "was a challenge" during peak months even before construction. Those visits are spread across 1,185 acres. In the same article, Kennedy said Glendale's next-largest park is about 80 to 100 acres.
Which trails start at the open lot
With 67th Avenue as the only scheduled-open lot, the useful question is which trails begin there. In the city's trail table, two do:
- Coach Whip, about 5.0 miles, rated easy. It runs from the 67th Avenue lot at Patrick Lane to 51st Avenue and Potter. The city notes it is not a loop, so walking the whole thing and coming back doubles the distance.
- Desert Iguana, about 0.75 mile, rated easy. It runs from the 67th Avenue lot to parking lot B.
The rest of the trail table describes routes that start at the closed lots, at numbered ramadas, or at points along Coach Whip:
- Flatlander, a looped trail of about 1.25 miles rated easy, starts at the 55th Avenue and Pinnacle Peak lot.
- Arrowhead Point, about 1.5 miles and rated moderately strenuous, starts south of the Pinnacle Peak lot along Coach Whip and ends at Ramadas 14 and 15.
- Cholla Loop, about 3.0 miles, is rated moderately strenuous and difficult in certain areas. It starts at parking lot A and ends at Coach Whip near 55th Avenue and Pinnacle Peak Road.
- Ridgeline, about 0.4 mile and rated moderate, leaves Coach Whip and meets the Sunrise trail.
- Sunrise, about 2.0 miles including its west branch and rated moderate, starts at the north end of the amphitheater or near Ramada 11. The west branch meets Coach Whip on the west side of the park.
Flatlander is the one listed trail whose starting point is the 55th Avenue lot itself, so it is the route most directly affected by that closure. Desert Iguana and Coach Whip are the routes that start right where the open lot is. For the best way to reach the others while two lots are closed, the city's project hotline, listed below, is the place to ask.
Park hours are posted as daily, sunrise to sunset. Glendale's park rules require dogs and cats to be controlled by their owner on a leash no longer than six feet, and owners must pick up all pet waste. Open fires are prohibited in all Glendale parks under City Code 16-16.
Why the schedule you heard may differ
If you remember hearing that only one trailhead would close at a time, that came from the news coverage when the project began. In spring, The Glendale Star reported that one trailhead would be closed while the other two stayed open, and that all three were projected to reopen in February 2027. In its April 5 story, KJZZ said the 59th Avenue closure would last until February.
The city's own dates don't match either version. Its April 1 closure notice put the 59th Avenue closure from April 6 through December 2026, the 55th Avenue work from August 2026 to February 2027, and the 67th Avenue work from January to August 2027. It expected the project to be finished in late summer 2027. AZFamily reported the same three windows on March 30. Since then, the city's park page has moved the 55th Avenue start up to July 13.
The city's dates are the ones the table above uses. The same page lists a project information hotline, (602) 532-6250, which is the most direct way to confirm a lot's status before you drive over.
January moves the open lot to the other side of the park
The handoff is what catches people off guard. If you get used to 67th Avenue this fall, plan on a change after New Year's. The 67th Avenue lot's closure is scheduled to begin in January 2027, the same month the 59th Avenue lot is due back after its December end date. The 55th Avenue lot stays on the closed list through February.
That puts the start of 2027 on the 59th Avenue entrance, which the city's trail brochure places a half-mile north of Deer Valley Road. Coach Whip and Desert Iguana are the only two trails the city lists as starting at the 67th Avenue lot. Once that lot closes, their usual starting point is closed with it.
From March through August 2027, the schedule shows both the 55th and 59th Avenue lots open while 67th Avenue finishes its turn. That is the first time since July 2026 that the posted dates show two lots open together.
What each closed lot reopens with
The rotation adds up because each lot reopens with more than it had before. The city lists shade structures, new restrooms, paved parking areas, new native plantings, and historical and environmental signage. In the Glendale Star article, Kennedy added that parking capacity is being expanded and that automated gates will open and close the trailheads, so rangers no longer have to drive to each lot at the start and end of the day. He called the signage an entirely new addition, with information about the area's plants and animals.
"It's a very popular facility and these trailheads really were lacking a sense of arrival when you got there," Kennedy told The Glendale Star.
According to that report, the park's infrastructure had gone about 20 years without improvements, and the work began almost two and a half years after the project was approved. If the posted schedule holds, the 59th Avenue lot is first in line to reopen with its new shade and restrooms, sometime around the turn of the year.
Local details like which lot is open this month often come up when I help families get settled in north Glendale. If you're new to the area, or working out how close you want to live to the Coach Whip trailhead, I'm glad to share what I know. Reach out to Stephanie White to schedule a consultation.
