Rio Salado Industrial Recreation Park

Love this park. Nice, easy walking on wide, paved path. Home of the burrowing owls, but I haven't seen one after many visits, but will keep trying. A nice, easy to access inner city wildlife area with easy to spot Gambel's Quail, white heron, finches, cottontail rabbits, cormorant type water fowl. River doesn't always have water but I have consistently observed heron here. The paved path between 7th street bridge and 16th street bridge makes for a very nice walk, passing many owl burrows where you can hope to see the famous Downtown Owls hanging out. Super easy parking at both 7th and 16th Rio Salado lots...just pull in, park, hop out and you're right on the well-marked path. Be advised, this path is also used by cyclists and one should be alert. In my experience, Phoenix cyclists do not observe the "on your left" announcement convention, so a fast moving bike can be approaching from behind with no warning. Stay alert, watch your six, and all will be fine. Great viewing for aircraft departing Sky Harbor. I feel this stretch of park is pretty safe and would not be concerned about walking alone. If you are in Phoenix for a short visit, or just business - take the time to walk this path or visit this park. So easy, and so nice, and such a lovely way to get a bit of unexpected, peaceful nature into your day, without ever leaving downtown. Park signage about hours currently say they close at sundown or 7pm.

This is the nearby walkpath, bike path or a park in my area, the place consist of man made pond, a little forestry area under the bridge, this rio salado is huge it was connected into different area i believe upto tempe or so u can check the google maps on where it runs, this is a good bike path before but just months ago they close it for some construction.. over all is a good safe path to walk when u want some fresh air.. parking is plenty but some rio salado park area have gate curfew like 7pm or sunset.

10/10 do not recommend going alone as a woman. That was naive of me. It seems cool in terms of wildlife, and I came down here to survey insects, but it’s not a very safe environment for anyone alone. There were homeless men shouting out at me of course, but when I went closer to the pond’s edge to photograph dragonflies, a man carrying nothing on him (not some biker or visitor) went out of his way to kind of corner me where I was. I slipped away throughout some vegetation and booked it back to my car (where I am now writing this). He stood around nearby where I was for a bit, but I have no idea where he is now. Overall, this place doesn’t seem cared for in the sense that no effort has been made to make it safe for visitors who aren’t with a group. I don’t think I’ll come back anytime soon. Massive bummer. P.S. The vegetation is completely fine and off path. Anyone complaining about that knows very little about Sonoran Desert flora.

Love how quiet it always is when I hike through here. Some of the passerbys even speak! 👍🏽but not much shade and if you're hiking factor in the distance from to the closest restroom. But the views are are my favorite. Hiking between 7th Street and Central so I've not seen the pond or the ducks yet but I did see a bunny 😀 🤷🏾‍♀️. Sometime the construction of the rail makes it a bit uncomfortable taking away from the nature of natural but it always gets drowned out by the view 😉

Got the best pics here a few people wanted to buy some to hang in their homes here is 2 of 148.