Hikin' Mule Deer Trail

White Tank Regional Mountain Park (February 2, 2025) There are eight regional parks in and around the Phoenix metropolitan area, including Estrella Mountain, San Tan Mountain, and Lake Pleasant, and each park offers miles and miles of hiking trails. This morning, I headed to White Tank Mountain Regional Park, located west of Phoenix in the town of Waddell.

This park, the largest in Maricopa County, has 30,000 acres of rugged desert landscape that features the beautiful White Tank Mountains—a series of ridges and canyons—and approximately 30 miles of hiking trails. It’s been several years since I hiked here, and while most of the park’s trails would be new to me, I chose Mule Deer Trail for my hike this morning.

You’ll be treated to stunning views of the valley and are likely to encounter diverse wildlife such as rabbits, squirrels, woodpeckers, and lizards. This trail is a mix of rocky sections and packed dirt with some gradual ascents and descents.

~ AllTrails

Mule Deer is an ‘out and back’ trail—out to a point and back to the start. The roundtrip is 3.6 miles with a little more than 200 feet in elevation gain. AllTrails rates the trail ‘Easy.’ And it was, from start to finish.

The weather was picture-perfect. The temperature was 58 degrees when I reached the trailhead…and 74 degrees when I finished my hike. The sky was mostly sunny, the color a deep blue. The clouds, which I believe meteorologists call 'cirrostratus,' spread out like a veil—almost a fibrous texture—across the sky. The breeze was light and variable. 

I crossed paths with many hikers—most in small groups of two or three—and a handful of mountain bikers, and most folks appeared to be 70ish…like me. It made sense when I thought about it, as this was a weekday, and younger people were more likely at work.  

There were only a few trail signs along the way; yet, I found Mule Deer Trail, with its obvious side boundaries, easy to follow...which is to say, I didn’t get lost. (Always a plus when I hike!)

I LOVED the scenery along the trail. While I didn’t see any wildlife to speak of (oh, yes, there were a few small lizards that skittered across the trail in front of me), I enjoyed gazing at the rugged landscape—cactus, mesquite, rock formations, mountains, and more—that make this land, the Sonoran Desert, vibrant and unique.

There was another feature along Mule Deer Trail I liked: A series of park benches, each with a pleasing view. The benches invited me to sit for a spell—perhaps ‘to smell the roses,’ if you will—and so I did on the ‘back’ portion of my hike. 

There was a memorial plaque—a heartfelt sentiment, to be sure—on this bench, which said in part:

In memory of a Loving mother, daughter and friend
Your wings were ready, our hearts were not

This bench faced southeast, and although the sky was hazy, I could see a mountain in the distance that rose up from the desert floor. I opened Google Maps, and quickly discovered this mountain was part of the Sierra Estrella, a mountain range southwest of Phoenix. How wonderful, I thought, to be here when the rising sun comes over the top of that mountain! 

Who knows…one day I may be motivated to get up well before the crack of dawn to have this experience.

I hiked to enjoy the outdoors, and so I followed the trail at a leisurely pace, stopping often to gaze at this and photograph that. Still, I finished my hike in an hour and a half, and so I burned a few calories and helped build my stamina. More important to me, though, was that I connected with the natural world around me—an experience that was priceless!