Monday to Thursday, November 4 to 7, 2024 (White Tank Mountain Regional Park, Waddell, AZ)

Today is travel day...time to leave Cottonwood and continue south. After packing up and emptying the tanks at the sani-dump, we hit the road south towards I-17. 

A few pictures along the way...

Passing 4000' to lower elevations and warmer temperatures...

Of course we ran into a bunch of road construction around the Black Canyon area. We managed to get into the Sunset Point Rest Area. A beautiful rest area, with amazing views...

Steve took a 32 second video...

We continued south on I-17 until highway 303 loop, a freeway that serves the west part of the Phoenix metropolitan area, finally making it over to White Tank Mountain Regional Park. The building is the library...

At the gatehouse, we received our camping "tags" and continued in to the Family Campground, a further 3 miles of lumpy paved road. Our site is rather odd....plenty of room to back-in the trailer/truck but the picnic table...and the rest of our camping area is a bit of a distance away. I'll show pictures tomorrow, the lighting isn't quite right tonight...

Tuesday (Nov. 5) was a chore day, taking care of a bunch of errands. But first, Steve took an early morning picture of our site...

Later, I also took a picture from our trailer door...

One of our stops was at Costco, where we saw this Tesla truck. We've seen quite a few down here and can't figure out why anyone would buy something so ugly! (in our opinion...😕)

We decided to get our Covid immunization shots at Costco...which meant we had to pay for them, $139.99 US each. Of course the day after we left the island, we received notification from the BC government to make an appointment for our "free shots"...just a tad late unfortunately. But we still wanted them, so pay, we did. 

A beautiful sunset tonight...

Wednesday (Nov. 6) morning we had a beautiful sunrise...nothing like Arizona sunrises and sunsets!

Just after 11:00, Alan and Cec arrived to pick us up. We met them on our Alaska trip back in 2013 and became fast friends. Unfortunately it has been about 5 years since we last saw them, so it was so special to finally get together with them again.

We went to MOD Pizza for lunch...a very interesting concept in pizza places. They make your pizza fresh right in front of you and you get to choose the toppings...as many as you want, for one price. We enjoyed our delicious pizzas and then went to Alan and Cec's beautiful home in the gated community of Pebble Creek, in Goodyear to continue our visit. There are currently over 5000 homes here and when complete there will be around 6500 homes...

After sitting and chatting for awhile, Alan asked Steve if he wanted to see his plane hanger (RC planes)...Steve was in awe! Alan even has several helicopters...

Then they took us on a tour of the gated community where they live.  A beautiful...and huge...Clubhouse...

So many possibilities to get active in...from glass-work, to pottery, to ceramics, woodwork, quilting, painting, etc. Cec is making beautiful glass pieces....

They have several display cases of the many works of art...this is the woodworking display. They also have a store where many of the items are for sale. There are many very talented seniors here!

Outdoor pools...

Indoor pool. They even have a weight room and another room full of cardio equipment...

Auditorium...the choir was practicing for a Christmas performance...

Well that was very impressive!

Alan and Cec's new wheels to get around the huge complex...

Back at Cec and Alan's, we sat chatting...

The golf course is down there is one of three on site. Alan has had problems with the Doves pooping around his water feature so he's placed several rubber snakes in it that somebody recommended he try... 

They have so many quail here that are quite entertaining. Besides rabbits, Cec showed us some photos of some of their other wildlife, coyotes, and bob cats!

Cec made a light dinner of quiche and fruit...and then it was time for them to take us home. Such a great day and a wonderful visit with long-time friends! So glad we finally got together...it was wonderful catching up! Thanks so much for your hospitality and allowing me to do our laundry!

Thursday (Nov. 7) was hiking day! And we definitely have a choice of trails...

White Tank Mountain Regional Park offers approximately 30 miles of excellent shared-use trails, ranging in length from 0.9 mile to 7.9 miles, and difficulty from easy to strenuous.

After consulting our 'AllTrails' app, we decided on the Waterfall and Black Rock Long Loop trails. We drove the truck to the trailhead and started on the Waterfall Trail (the Black Rock Long Loop trail access if off the Waterfall Trail). The Waterfall Trail is a barrier-free paved trail for 1/2 mile...

There are petroglyphs along the way...in an area called Petroglyph Plaza...

Time for a water break...

We thought this was the end of the line but the trail continued on quite a bit further. Lots of bullet holes in that tank...

A 46 second video...

At the end of the Waterfall Trail there are stairs that lead up to the plunge pool...

Of course, with no recent rain, there are no waterfalls and no plunge pool. Steve took a 25 second video...

Looking back at the entrance...

Time to head back...

About half-way back down the trail there is a short trail that leads to the Black Rock Long Loop Trail...

Wildlife on the trail!

A 1:04 minute video of the 5 deer...

A little rest before we continue on the loop...

Our hike was 1 hour, 35 minutes...6.5 km/4.09 miles with an elevation gain of 101metres/331 feet....so great to be back out on the trails!

And that's it for White Tank Mountain Regional Park...tomorrow we leave, heading over to the other side of Phoenix to McDowell Mountain Regional Park, another favourite that we haven't been to since 2014!