This hike began at the Granite Mountain Trailhead in the Scottsdale McDowell Sonoran Preserve, Northern part.

From the trailhead, we hiked along the Bootlegger Trail. At the junction, we began a clockwise loop around Granite Mountain on the Granite Mountain Loop Trail, with a 0.3 mile each way side trip to Balanced Rock. We then rejoined the Granite Mountain Loop Trail and continued clockwise around the trail, stopping at the scenic View (GM10) and then at GM4. We took the Bootlegger Trail back to BLM 2 and then that trail back to the Trailhead.

The stats were 6.8 miles with a few hundred feet accumulated elevation gain.