WHITE TANK MOUNTAIN REGIONAL PARK WADDELL, AZ

WHITE TANK MOUNTAIN REGIONAL PARK WADDELL, AZ

We finally made it to White Tank Mountain. We had this on our "To Do List" since we saw the view the first morning we woke up at Leaf Verde RV Resort, over 5 months ago (just like us to wait until the last minute to do something). The address was not in our navigator so here are the coordinates we used (* = degrees) 33*33'57.8"N 112*29'48.4"W. Once we arrived there is a Nature Center were we got park maps of hiking trails and campsite. There are also a display of live rattlesnakes and scorpions (in glass cases). We now know what to look for before we started our hikes of the day. The cost to enter the park is $6 a car or $2 a person walking/ biking. You can pay in the Nature Center or at the gate as you drive in. I did not do much research on camping, but know it's $25 a day.

The first hike we went was the Waterfall Trail. About 1 1/2 miles one way from the parking lot. I would rate this tail easy. For those who get tired often, there are plenty rest stops with benches along the trail. Trail is mostly flat and sandy. There are a few places where you have to climb, but have man made steps. Along the trail you can see Petroglyphs on rocks throughout the hike. There has been no rainfall this winter (1 day in 5 months) so there was only a drip of water falling over the cliff. This allowed us to get down to the basin and stand under the cliff, what a view. When we stood under the cliff, it felt like an outside air conditioner.

We then ate our packed lunch before starting our second hike of the day. We heard that some of the cactus are still in bloom and took a chance on a 2 mile hike one way on the Ford Canyon Trail. I would rate this trail medium. The path is marked, two other trails cross connected, it could be a little confusion... use the map for help. The path is sandy and sometimes rocky there is some hills you have climbing. There are fewer rest stops with benches, but you can always rest on large rock too. We were lucky and saw some of the bloomed cactus. In a few days all the cactus will be done blooming until next years. We hiked until we reached the top of the trail. By the map there was still another 5 miles to go, but when we arrive and looked down the trail it kept going down further into nowhere. We decided to turned around and started back to the car.