After a month in an RV Resort, we’ve spent the last few days back in the desert at White Tank Mountain Regional Park. Randy has told me several times a day that he really likes this park! This is our third stay at a Maricopa Country Regional Park and they have each been very nice. We have three more to explore in coming years.
Back in the desert means pulling out the rope lights to discourage the pack-rats!
Love the Mexican Poppies!
We have been fortunate to be here at just the right time to enjoy the desert wildflowers. They are everywhere!
As always, we enjoy the saguaro and the many shapes they exhibit!
Even this saguaro skeleton has a great shape!
I learned from an Arizona Highways article this week that plural cactus can be called cacti or cactuses. Webster’s and Oxford dictionaries list both forms but show cactuses as preferred. Although I’m not sure I can change my ways after years and years of referring to more than one cactus as cacti, I am glad to have learned this.
We also learned the White Tank Mountains were named for depressions scoured into the white granite from water runoff after torrential rains. There hasn’t been any rain during the past week, so we were surprised to see water on the Waterfall Trail. There was even a small stream of water in the waterfall.
The walk was long and hot for our boy Elko so at least he was rewarded with a stroll in the white tank!
On the way to the waterfall we passed through the “Petroglyph Plaza.” These are the most petroglyphs in one place that we have ever seen – and we didn’t even wander off trail. The Hohokam lived here from 500 AD to 1100 AD and, in addition to extensive petroglyphs, there are seven village archeological sites.
Nowadays the park is “home” to extensive trails for hiking and mountain-biking. Randy has done both and enjoyed it thoroughly. His hikes have ranged from 8-13 miles in length. Mine were much more modest!
Randy saw an old abandoned dam on one of his hikes.
My favorite cactus – that isn’t really a cactus- is ocotillo. Ocotillo are only in the White Tank Mountain area at the highest elevations. Randy saw some on one of his hikes – almost ready to bloom – so he emailed me a picture. If they were blooming, I might have had to go see!
We did venture out of the park one day to meet our friends, Gerry and Kathy, for a Mariners game and dinner. We met them in Tucson last year and met up in Phoenix this year – the way of RVers!
Segura on second, Cano on first, Cruz in the batter’s box, and Seager on deck. We got the big boys for our spring training game!
We’ll see the Mariners again next week when we move 11 miles east to Sunflower RV Resort. It is probably our shortest move ever – and shorter than Randy’s hike today!
Serene Wandering 
Tell Randy that you will drive the RV to the new park and he can hike and meet you there! Funny coincidence – some friends of mine were at the same mariners game as you and posted a picture from almost the same site! Not sure if they will still be there next week, but if you see a lady with dark curly hair in a wheel chair, walk up to and say”Hi Jennifer”!
Good idea Shirley! But I’m not sure I want to drive in the city…I barely drive on long straight sections of highway. We go again on Monday – we’ll look for Jennifer!
It sounds like Randy is logging some miles! Good for him. That looks like a beautiful park, especially with wildflowers blooming like that. And I had no idea what that Saguaro skeleton was until I read the caption. Very interesting looking.
The rope lights look like something from The Electric Horseman, or the Snake River Stampede. No missing that trailer.
As long as the pack rats continue to miss us! We’ve met people who have had $$$$ of damage. In some desert parks a good number of people have the lights, in this one it was just a few. Mostly us and the camp hosts.