Toa Vakoañ (Park of the Canals)

About

Toa Vakoañ, long known as Park of the Canals, is a 31-acre Mesa city park that preserves part of an ancient Hohokam canal system. A historical marker in the park says it protects about 4,500 feet of the old canals. Visiting is free, and the park is open from sunrise to 10 p.m. It has an unpaved walking path, a playground, restrooms, ramadas and a botanical garden. The Hohokam dug canals across the Salt River Valley and left by about 1450 A.D., for reasons still unknown. Walking beside the channels they built gives a real sense of how long people have farmed this desert.