It often crosses my mind how privileged Ed and I are to be some of the very few that get to enjoy living in Arizona Parks, both State and Regional, throughout the winter months.
We stay at the following Arizona Parks…
- Catalina State Park in Oro Valley, Arizona, there are 120 campsites on 5,493 acres.
- McDowell Mountain Regional Park in Fountain Hills, Arizona, there are 76 campsites over 21,099 acres.
- White Tank Mountain Regional park has 40 campsites over 29,271 acres.
- Last but certainly not least, Kartchner Caverns State Park has 59 campsites within a dark-sky park that includes the magnificent Kartchner Caverns.
Between those for which I’ve included acreages, there are only 236 campsites over 56,000 acres.
Imagine… For a scant $30 per night, we enjoy peace, quiet, dark skies and coyote song night after night during our winter sojourns in Arizona.
Moreover, we get to enjoy hiking and biking on the 10’s of thousands of acres of wilderness in the State and Regional Parks.
Catalina State Park in particular, enjoys having the most concentrated numbers of cacti on its lands. I’ve hiked their trails so often over the past 7 years that I’ve named many of the saguaros that I’ve encountered. 🙂
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve done a 2-hour up and back the 50-Year trail at Catalina and come across only a couple of hikers or bikers and often, on weekdays, I’ve seen none at all. Talk about perfection. Hiking in almost-wilderness and seeing nothing but a coyote and all sorts of birds.
The campsites are widespread and all of the folks here are of the same mind — we love the outdoors, peace, quiet, and dark skies — meaning that true nature enthusiasts don’t play music that anyone else can hear and they don’t light up the night sky with lights that are completely unnecessary.
I, personally, can’t imagine anything or any place more perfect to spend the winter than in an Arizona State or Regional Park.
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