From Dead Horse Ranch, we headed down to the White Tank Mountain Regional Park west of Phoenix. For me, it provided a return visit to a place I visited frequently as a kid years ago.
We booked a site in the park’s Willow Campground, which is primarily designed for tent campers.
The park offers a large number of hiking trails. The first one we tried was the Waterfall Trail, which lead to a pool below a dry pouroff.
A food truck offering Chicago dogs awaited us back at the trailhead. Of course, we had to try one of those Second City treats.
Based on the photo, our friends who are actually from Chicago say this dog lacks a few of the necessary accoutrements to make it a genuine Chicago dog, but it’s not a bad imitation considering we bought this in the middle of the Sonoran Desert.
We hiked more of the park’s trails, some leading up into the mountains capped by antennas and microwave stations…
…and others out onto the flats where windmill-fed ponds attract birdlife.
We had a little excitement in camp when this little buzz worm was seen crossing the road, heading towards our friends’ camp.
A ranger was called…
And soon the little guy was sitting in a bucket, ready to be transported to another location where he could slither away unharmed. We rarely ever see a snake in the wild, so this was a real treat!
By this point, we had spent a week camping in our tent and we had laundry to do and groceries to buy. While our friends continued to bunk in their tent, we upgraded our sleeping arrangements with a night’s stay at the Quality Inn in my old hometown of Youngtown.
Yes, after 10+ years of camping in a trailer, we’ve grown soft.