Estrella Mountain Regional Park — Attraction in Avondale

This was a tough one for me to rate because of course it’s based on your loves and preferences. I recently bought a park pass out at The White Tank Regional Park since I go fairly often as well as Spur Cross in Cave Creek. When I found out for $85 I could visit all 13 parks for the year as much as I wanted it was a no brainer since most are $7 a day I believe to enter. Pros first. The woman at the entrance gate( I entered closer to the golf course/estrella prkwy) was wonderful. She was friendly, funny and gave me some great trail options and map when I’d told her I’d never been. Since it was later in the morning and already 80 I chose the Quail Trail that you can access right behind the Nature Center. I drove behind the Nature Center and parked right next to the start of the trail. I decided to walk up to the Center to check it out and use the bathroom real quick instead of the port o potty at the trail head. Service again was friendly. For me however the Nature Center wasn’t very interesting and felt pretty empty. White Tanks Library and Nature Center definitely has them best with live snakes etc inside and can access it without paying the entrance fee since it’s outside the park entrance. (A little con I snuck in I know). I started the trail which was fairly busy with some kids still on spring break this week. The trail was marked easy, but was quite uphill at first and pretty rocky so it may cause trouble for some. Definitely no shade this time of year. While a shorter trail than some it’s still a good work out. The good thing about Estrella seems to be that it’s full of loop trails that all seem to connect at some point so a short trail can honestly be as long as you’d like it. Some trails are competitive, full of mountain bikers or horses. The map really shows you those spots if interested. I am definitely not in shape to be running up and down mountain tarrain ha ha. Sometimes I wonder if the noise from the gravel is my knees or the sand. Jk… but am I ? Onto my cons. If you come in the Estrella Parkway entrance there’s not much besides the nature center and tons of ramadas. Great for picnics and playground fun. I drove the entire area in about four minutes. While there are multiple lots to park some are for horse trailers only and so connect to the longer trails. I witnessed what looked to be a baseball field that said it could be rented out at one time, but looked very overgrown and of there was grass ever on the field it is very dead. While the trail was decent for me, view from it was more warehouses , golf course then around the corner the Mountain View it wasn’t for me. I did get a good workout, but this place seems so much less that the other parks nearby. If I come back and do a different hike I’ll update, but what I saw I wasn’t...

This park is huge and has lots of parking lots, so it can be confusing to navigate and know where to park for the trail you want to embark on. Experience has taught me the safest best it to park at the lot at the very end which is also next to the "rodeo arena" where all their horses are stationed. (Edit: Looks like they took down the stadium seating by the rodeo arena.) From there, you can go to the Rainbow Trail or the Toothaker Trail- and those trail do branch off into some of the other trails. One thing I didn't quite like is the trails had a lot of horse poop and flies on them, and the trails are a bit to meandering to my liking. On one hike, I needed to make a pit restroom stop at the nature center. I could literally see the nature center in front of my eyes as I was walking down the trail to get there, but imagine my desperation as the trail zigzagged me further away from the center and then closer and then further.

Funnest hike I've done is the Pedersen 14 mile hike challenge. Check the Maricopa Regional parks website to see when the ranger does it. I did it in winter time. It was freezing, but we soon warmed up, and by the end I felt quite accomplished. The ranger did a great job keeping everyone motivated...

This is a really amazing piece of nature in the heart of Goodyear. It's a huge area where you can camp, hike, bike ride and let the dogs and kiddos run around! One of my favorite areas is the museum which has an outside path with a artistic timeline of interesting tidbits about the Native American Indian tribes that inhabited the land and the progression of the city of Goodyear throughout the centuries. Plus, there is a cute little hiking trail called "Quail Trail" where you are bound to see some beautiful quails! A day trip to this mountain park is just the thing you need to reconnect with nature and learn a little something about the history of the land. Just make sure to bring food, a ton of water and try to go on a day where it's...