Nina Gruber

For those looking to escape the Valley's heat, we introduce some hikes just a bit north and therefore a bit cooler in these summer months. Here are three (of countless more) options for beautiful and accessible trails for the hikers among us who aren't loving the weather right now...

Welcome to Crunch, where Chow Bella contributor Nina Gruber is exploring healthy eating options -- and reporting back. This week: the Raw Food movement. Most of us eat a little bit of raw food every day: a salad here, some carrots there, maybe some dehydrated kale chips. But some people...

As the country's largest urban park, the 16,000-acre South Mountain Park and Preserve has many trails for a hiker to explore its variable and unique terrain. We enjoy taking an easy-going day hike on the north edge of the park that provides an exciting and scenic climb through the granite...

At 12,637 feet, Humphrey's Peak is Arizona's tallest mountain and is located within driving distance of Phoenix, just 11 miles north of Flagstaff. One of the extinct volcanoes in the San Francisco Range, Humphrey's offers a unique hike to its summit for those of us looking for a weekend getaway...

With the ultra popular Echo Canyon shut down for the majority of the year, hikers have flooded to the gates of the Piestewa Peak summit trail. Though there is a debate over the comparable difficulty of the two trails, avid Echoers run up and down Piestewa alongside the tourists and...