White Tank Mountains Regional Park – Waddell, AZ

Waddell? Yep, Waddell (pronounced Wah-Dell – not Wa-Dul as my sister so impatiently explained to me). I lived in Phoenix for a number of years and never heard of Waddell but there’s are lots of places I don’t know. Waddell is a small community right next to Surprise and Sun City West, ah, places I have heard of and know. The White Tank Mountain Park is a Maricopa County regional park nestled up in the mountains on the west side of Phoenix. A beautiful, beautiful park with lots of hiking trails, a competitive track, day use areas, a lovely campground, two group camping areas, and a horse staging area to load/unload your horses for all those wonderful trails to ride.

Campground: White Tank Mountain Regional Park Family Campground
Location: Waddell, Arizona (west Phoenix)
Site: 23 (pull out)
Cost: $30
Services: W/E (50 Amp)
Comments: A beautifully designed campground with nice spacious sites with privacy nestled in the foothills and lots of sites for big rigs. There were only a small number of sites better suited for smaller rigs and/or tents. Peace and quiet surround you yet you have fabulous views of the desert around you along with, way out in the distance, of Phoenix. This provides incredible city light viewing at night yet you feel you are in the wilderness.

Site 23 – pull out

Site 23 – wide pull out

Site 23 – picnic area with great views

Site 23 – long pull out

Site 23 – big picnic area with great views and privacy

The campground has both back-in sites and pull-out sites that are all large and accomodating and most, especially on the outer circle, offer nice privacy and space.  The picnic areas are very well maintained with raked gravel and a nice border of rocks.

Site 6

Site 8

Site 9

Site 10

Site 14

Site 16

Site 24

Site 25

Site 28

Site 29

Site 31

Site 32

Site 33

Site 34

Site 35

Site 37

This park has a variety of trails of varying difficulty from easy to extremely strenuous. We need to spend a few weeks here trying them all out. There is one trailhead (Ironwood) at the campground and the others are in various locations around the park.

View of downtonw Phoenix

Saguaro collage

There is also a Nature Center at the entrance to the park (just before you enter) which is also the White Tank library branch which provides Wi-Fi.  Cell signal was strong in the campground.

As usual, we didn’t stay at the campground as long as we needed to really explore it but enjoyed it enough that I am sure we will find a reason to return.