Salt River Fields in Scottsdale, AZ, is a new professional ball park and stadium complex. It is the home of spring training for the AZ Diamondbacks and the Colorado Rockies. Each year the forum sees a number of queries about where to camp for spring training. Since Scottsdale itself doesn’t really have any campgrounds, we have to go further afield.
A few days ago, my wife and I were out at McDowell Mountain Regional Park. This is a county park outside of the town of Fountain Hills, AZ, just east of Scottsdale. The park itself is quite large, and has a campground within it. We haven’t camped there in a few years, but were reminded of what a wonderful campground it is.
There are 76 individual campsites, well spread out. Interior roads are paved, campsites are level, graveled, and well drained. Each site has water and electric hook-ups, a picnic table and a barbecue fire ring. There is a dump station at the entrance, and several restroom buildings with flush toilets and showers.
The park itself is more than 21,000 acres. Although one edge runs along the McDowell Mountains, most of it is in a level section of desert. For people who are not baseball enthusiasts, there are miles of hiking and biking trails the park, ranging from level and easy to steep and challenging. Motor vehicles are not allowed on the trails. Geocaching is allowed, and there are many caches within the park. If you are an amateur astronomer, this is a dark skies area. And of course, spring is wildflower season in the Sonoran Desert. Check out http://www.maricopa.gov/parks/mcdowell/.
All sites in the campground may be reserved online at http://www.maricopacountyparks.org/. As you can imagine, early reservations are highly recommended.
Bill