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If you don’t like gorgeous desert sceneries, biking/hiking on endless miles of dirt trails, beautiful desert flowers, and reasonably private campsites, you may not love the McDowell Mountain Regional Park campground. But it seems like everyone else in the world loves this place – hard to get a campsite, so reserve in advance. North of the Phoenix/Scottsdale area, and just outside of Fountain Hills, this county campground is superb – we will be back no doubt.

While we participated in many activities in the area, including a visit to Taliesin West (Frank Lloyd Wright’s place), you can bike and/or hike right from the campsite – there are MILES of trails, and they are in great shape (I expect that the county, AZ Trail Group and other volunteers probably participate in keeping them healthy). And the desert continues to amaze us with all the textures and colors.

You are close to the town of Fountain Hills, so if you need a Starbucks fix, laundry, supermarket or other amenities they are close at hand. This campground is a great find – don’t tell anyone.