White Tank Mountain Regional Park

The Phoenix area is not only a desert, it is also surrounded by numerous mountain ranges. To the northeast are the McDowell Mountains, to the west are the White Tank Mountains, and the Superstition Mountains lie to the east. The Sierra Estrella is southwest, and within the city itself are the Phoenix Mountains and the South Mountains. All these mountains are an easy drive from Phoenix and the suburbs, offering thousands of acres for hiking and biking. With the mild winter climate, this is the perfect time of year to explore these trails. So far Dan and I have taken a couple of hikes and one bike ride in the White Tank Mountains, about 18 miles away, an easy drive out of the city, located in White Tank Mountain Regional Park.

The park itself sprawls over 29,572 acres where the 4000-foot-high White Tank Mountains separate the Phoenix Basin of the Salt River Valley from the Hassayampa Plain. The mountains are steep, deeply serrated with ridges and deep canyons, and include fault lines. Floodwaters, pouring down chutes and dropping off ledges, have scoured out a series of depressions, or "tanks", in the white granite rock below, thus the name of the mountains. There is evidence of ancient Arizonans dating back 10,000 years, with hundreds of figures and symbols pecked on the rock faces of the Mountains.

Dan and I really enjoyed hiking and biking through the many varieties of cacti, including Barrel, Saguaro, Cholla, and Prickly Pear. Unfortunately this isn't the time of year when these cactus bloom, but then again - do I really want to be scaling a mountain with a 1300-foot elevation gain in 100 degree plus weather? Probably not!

Hope you enjoy these pictures of our most recent hike and bike ride in the White Tank Mountains Regional Park.