Rio Salado Habitat Restoration Area has a few trails near a seasonal river that we wanted to explore for some time. When we found out about the art sale at the Audubon Center next to the trail we decided to combine it with a visit to the Rio Salado trails nearby. The art sale is quite popular with the parking lot threatening to fill up. We wandered through both the permanent exhibitions and the art sale stands and it was quite interesting and gave us a few ideas regarding locations to visit as well as an occassion to buy a few interesting items. The center is also worth a visit to go out on the veranda overlooking a nice pond.
After exiting the Audubon Center we decided to drive across the bridge and park in the dedicated parking lot for Rio Salado. As we walk down to the river trail there is a relatively scary camera telling that it is taking pictures of you tresspassing even though you are on a city trail, weird. We also pass a point of interest named “Waterfall” that we cannot visit unfortunately as there is an entire tour group listening to a long lecture at the location.
As we get to the linear trail near the wash there are lots of colorful trees and the trail looks interesting but we do not have that much time to explore today and after a quarter mile return back to the parking lot.
As we return to the parking lot we stop and enjoy the maintained pond that even has a few ducks. There are a few families that are feeding the ducks who seem really eager to get the crumbs. Overall it is a nice area during the day but probably not the best place in the evening due to the likelihood of homeless people coming from downtown to sleep in the park.
