McDowell Mountain Park gets massive snake slide
Jan 22, 2014, 3:10 PM | Updated: 3:10 pm
PHOENIX — A Valley playground has a new slide of the reptilian variety.
According to GrittyPress.com, McDowell Mountain Park in Fountain Hills, Ariz. is now home to a 15,000-pound rattlesnake slide designed to look like the Western Diamondback rattlesnake, which is native to Arizona.
The massive slide includes a rattle tail spinner and a surrounding play area equipped with numerous places to climb, including fake cacti and boulders connected by a spider web climbing net.
Rand Hubbell, Park Supervisor of McDowell Mountain Regional Park, gave Team Gritty the lowdown. “This project came about because the playgrounds in the ten regional parks that the county manages are about 10 years old,” said Rand. “And at that point, you have to have a major refurbishing of the playgrounds, or replace them. We opted to replace them with some new, really unique sculptures that we think are different than you’d find in most of your neighborhood parks.”
The snake was built in Fort Payne, Ala. and was shipped across the country to Fountain Hills. Only one other exists in Las Vegas.
The park sees between 80,000 and 100,000 visitors per year.