Parks Rankings

[aj661]

Originally Posted by artyst

phoenix mtn preserves - if you've seen one you've seen them all....dirt, rocks, desert....yawn
south mountain.....not too impressive, similar to the mtn preserves except you can drive to the top too.
papago park - small, quaint, not too interesting except for the hole in the mtn.
the second question was rhetorical.

Small and quaint??? Apparently you didn't experience much of the park. It's almost 2 square miles. If that's small what is NY's central park at 3/4 the size? I've hiked, run and biked pretty much all of it. As pre-teens, we rode our bikes there from Granite Reef and McDowell at least a couple times a week every summer to go hole-in-the-rock, fish, visit the zoo or just "explore". Granted, it doesn't have many trees with "leaves", or a carousel and certainly doesn't have as many benches as central park. But how many unique rock formations does central park have? Is NY's first, third, fifth and seventh Governor entombed there in a mini pyramid? And the benches, they may be nice for some people but I never went to a park to sit on my butt!

[trentonw]

Here are a few pictures of Papago Dog Park. I think Papago Park extends to the desert botanical garden and the rock with the hole. 2 square miles sounds right. The red rock landscape is similar to what is pictured.

[artyst]

i stand by my opinion of the "unique" parks phoenix has.

[artyst]

Originally Posted by aj661

Small and quaint??? Apparently you didn't experience much of the park. It's almost 2 square miles. If that's small what is NY's central park at 3/4 the size? I've hiked, run and biked pretty much all of it. As pre-teens, we rode our bikes there from Granite Reef and McDowell at least a couple times a week every summer to go hole-in-the-rock, fish, visit the zoo or just "explore". Granted, it doesn't have many trees with "leaves", or a carousel and certainly doesn't have as many benches as central park. But how many unique rock formations does central park have? Is NY's first, third, fifth and seventh Governor entombed there in a mini pyramid? And the benches, they may be nice for some people but I never went to a park to sit on my butt!

central park 1.32 miles of WAAAYYYYY more interesting things to see and do than papago park. LOL.
guess you'd have to experience it for yourself! lol

[artyst]

oh, and there is a LOT more history in central park than in papago. and, just for the record, there are many rock formations in cp; but again, guess you'd have to have been there!!

[vegaspilgrim]

Look, I appreciate that Phoenix has a nice network of mountain preserves. I hike at South Mountain Park, especially the Mormon Trail all the time. I've done Camelback and Squaw Peak several times. I bicycle to Papago Park all the time. But these are nature preserves, plain and simple, not city parks. I could care less what they are officially called. I could care less that Phoenix claims South Mountain Park is the largest city park in the world. Give me a break. Nature preserves are great, whether it happens to be owned by the city, the county, the state, or it's a National Park. It's similar to when people keep spouting off the statistic that Phoenix is the 5th largest city in America, when it's really the 13th largest. It's the size of the metropolitan area that counts, not the size of the municipality. It's the beauty of nature that counts, not the title given to it.

When it comes to real city parks, Phoenix is really, really disappointing. No way to beat around the bush. I posted a question a few weeks ago about walkable, shady parks within Phoenix. Not much of a response, because there isn't much. I've been to Encanto Park. Not really that many shady trees, not that beautiful. A little train ride for kids, an artificial stream with little bridges everywhere. Leaving the golf course and driving range aside, the actual park park is not that big. Other than taking your kids there for the train attraction, or for a certain population demographic who takes over the park on Sunday afternoons (you know who I'm talking about), I don't see much of a reason to go there. And if anything, I see Phoenix parks getting worse-- because the only trees that the public sector is planting these days are shadeless paloverde trees. All the good trees are in private property in neighborhoods in Central Phoenix.

You want to know a city that truly is awesome when it comes to parks-- both nature preserves and city parks? Denver. In addition to the Denver Mountain Park system, county open space preserves, several reservoirs and grassland/creek preserves, there is a world-class system of city parks with beautiful grass, shaded trees, and lakes. True destination parks where people will come from miles away to spend time. City Park, Washington Park, Cheesman Park, Congress Park, Sloan's Lake-- these are just the more well known ones. Parks that are a big part of the history and culture of the city. Denver is also a very arid city, but they manage to make it happen.

[topjimmy]

We live in the desert, therefore, our parks contain rocks and cactus.

If you live in the midwest, parks contain trees and grass.

Once again, THIS IS THE DSERT, if you want trees and grass, move to the midwest.