Estrella Mountain Regional Park & Discovery Center | Goodyear, Arizona
Estrella Mountain Regional Park, located in Goodyear, Arizona, has so much to offer, from mountain trails to a discovery center, a newly renovated park, and a horse corral!
Estrella Mountain Regional Park’s mountains are very deceiving! Upon first glance, the terrain and trails look like they don’t have much to offer, but if you look closely at these magical mountains, they are covered in Quartz and Granite!
Estrella Park offers over 33 miles of trails for hiking, mountain biking, and horseback riding. Trails ranging in length from 2.3 miles to 8.8 miles! We took the kiddos on the baseline trail, a 2.3-mile loop trail with minimal incline.
The highlight of the trail, for the kids, was collecting all the shiny rocks, AKA the white Quartz.
After exploring the mountains, we headed over to the discovery center. On our way to the discovery center, we encountered many desert squirrels who would pop their heads up from their many burrows. The kids loved that!
Inside the discovery center, there were a few living desert creatures on display. We saw snakes, a Gila Monster, bugs, and a tarantula!
After learning from the Discovery Center's helpful employees, we headed off to the Estrella Mountain Regional Park’s newly renovated playground!
The kids and I loved the playground desert theme. They climbed an oversized tarantula, hiked up the back of what appeared to be a Sphinx, swung on cactus swings, and slide down hummingbird slides. The park is also well shaded, and that is a major bonus in our book!
To finish off our adventures at Estrella Mountain Regional Park, we visited the horse corrals where the kids interacted with the horses. During the fall and spring months, the park offers “Corral West Horse Adventures.” That is something we anticipate trying next year!
💰The cost to enter the park is $7 per vehicle, and all the adventures I mentioned above are included with that one-time vehicle charge.
We enjoyed ourselves and look forward to visiting again!
Fun Fact: The discovery center employees told us that there is a trail that will lead you to a piece of Quartz the size of a car! They also said the trail leading to that oversized piece of Quartz is a strenuous 8-mile round trip trail. Not something my kiddos are capable of doing, just yet but something to keep in mind for the future!
📍 14805 W Vineyard Ave, Goodyear, AZ
💰 $7 a car
⏰ Dawn to Dusk
