Veterans Oasis Park is a 113-acre, Certified Wildlife Habitat park located in Chandler, Arizona. This is a beautiful park whether you want to spend an hour or an afternoon. With wetlands and habitat for plants and wildlife in the Sonoran Desert, this park has a lot of fun features you probably didn’t even realize.
Did you know this park has a Solar System Walk, Junior Naturalist Program, Education Center (with snakes & more), a memorial with color changing lights and more?
Here we’ll cover everything you need to know before you go and what you’ll find hidden within Veterans Oasis Park.
In This Guide:
Fishing Lake
Hiking, Biking & Equestrian Trails
Environmental Education Center
Butterfly and Hummingbird Habitat
Events
Solar System Walk
Field of Honor Memorial
Junior Naturalist Program
Hours & When to Go
Park Map
Getting There
Good to Know Before You Go
Things to Do Nearby
Fishing Lake at Veterans Oasis Park
Whether you like to fish or not, the 14-foot deep lake is beautiful to sit next to, walk around or just watch the ducks. It’s easy to spot Rudy, Mallard and other types of ducks who may wonder over to see what you have for them.
Even if you’re not fishing watch along the water to see if you spot Trout or Blugill.
What kind of fish are at Veterans Oasis Park? You’ll find the following kinds of fish:
- Channel catfish
- Rainbow trout
- Bluegill
- Sunfish
- Largemouth bass
As with other community parks, you will need a fishing license which can be purchased online for from a local retailer (like Walmart).
Hiking, Biking & Equestrian Trails
Veterans Oasis Park has 4.5 miles of trails. The Veterans Oasis Park Loop is a 2.5 mile long trail that is quite popular.
Walking around, the kids enjoy finding and jumping on the icons of hummingbirds, butterflies, moths, gecko, leaves, and more imprinted on the ground.
As you walk around the lake you’ll come across the beautiful waterfall. Turn up the hill just after the waterfall and continue up to where the water starts. When at the top, turn right following the trail which will lead you to a beautiful view, as well as telescopes to spot wildlife.
To the left of the top of the water leads you to a Gazebo where you will be at the highest point in Chandler.
Where do I start? This place is an absolute beauty! From entrance to exit, there is an endless stream of something beautiful to look at. Whether you want to hike up a small hill and see all of chandler, or just sit and enjoy the ducks, I can guarantee you will enjoy this park! Highly recommend!
– Sam Z.
There are plenty of desert plants including Organ Pipe cactus, prickly pear cactus, ocotillo and saguaro cactus.
Don’t forget to look up as it’s common to see hawks in the area like Harris or Red-Tailed Hawks that are just part of over 135 bird species that visit the park.
Environmental Education Center
The educational center is fun to explore with several exhibits including live snakes, a tarantula and scorpion.
Classes and programs are also offered in one of their 4 classrooms on topics like birdwatching, gardening, photography, stargazing, conservation and more. There are programs for both kids and adults.
There is no cost to visit the center and exhibits.
Nature Store
Inside the Environmental Education Center is a nature store called The Owls Nest Nature Store with nice gifts and accessories.
Love this place! Enjoying the walking trails, water, birds, fishing, and small waterfalls….signs and information regarding the solar system, lots of fun! And plenty places to rest —patios, benches, picnic areas and restrooms!
– Hua X.
Butterfly and Hummingbird Habitat
Veterans Oasis Park is an official Monarch Waystation. This is is a migratory spot for Monarch Butterflies as they migrate from the US to Mexico.
Events
Keep an eye on the park’s calendar for events like yoga in the park, desert garden maintenance, meet the creature exhibits and more.
From November to April, the park hosts free bird walks on the first Saturday of every month starting at 8am.
Solar System Walk
The solar system wait wait doors while teaching them about the solar system. This is a self-guided 2500 foot path, where families can walk around the lake which represent the sun, the planets and primary celestial objects. Each sign is placed in a just dance have a scale of the solar system. So each time you take a stand that represents 1,500,000 miles.
Each time covers he told information on the planet, the cultures who studied the sky planets and more.
Field of Honor Memorial
On the southwest corner of the park, The field of Honor Memorial is a unique memorial honoring veterans.
The memorial pays tribute to the past, present and future veterans of the Southeast Valley, honoring all branches of the military. A new addition to the memorial is the Williams Air Force Base Memorial Plane, a Korean War-era plane.
It is especially neat to visit at night when the memorial lights up and the colors change. It is fun to walk through or play a game of hide and seek with the kids.
Chandler’s new memorial at Veterans Oasis Park is excellent. True representation of the parks namesake. So respectful and honoring and a creative way of recognizing service men and women from Chandler. Very well done Chandler!
– BA J.
Junior Naturalist Program
There is a Junior Naturalist a program kids can participate in. At the Environmental Education Center, kids you can pickup a Junior Naturalis Program in the center’s hallway (entering from the side door next to the parking lot).
This is designed to help the, pay attention to their surroundings in nature and explore the local plants, animals wand bodies of water.
Kids under 5 can complete 3 activities in the book to receive a certificate of completion (after taking a naturalist pledge), and the number of activities increases with age until ages 12+ is asked to complete the entire booklet.
Hours & When to Go
The park is open daily from 6am to 10:30pm.
The Environmental Education Center is open Monday – Thursday from 8am – 7pm, Friday 8am – 5pm and Saturday 8am – 2pm.
Park Map
Depending on what you want to see before you go, the park map will help you see where the different features are located.
You can also download a PDF of the map here.
Getting There
Veterans Oasis Park is located at 4050 E Chandler Heights Rd, Chandler, AZ 85249.
The parking lot you will want to enter is off of Chandler Heights Road. If you park on Lindsay Road next to the Veterans Memorial, there will be a path you can use to walk to the park. There is a lot of parking available so parking will not be a problem.
Frequently Asked Questions About Veterans Oasis Park
Are dogs allowed at Veterans Oasis Park?
Both dogs and horses are allowed on the trails?
Good to Know Before You Go
- Restrooms are inside the main building
- There is plenty of parking on site
- The main parking lot is located off of Chandler Heights
- There are grills located in the picnic areas
- There are covered picnic areas available
Things to Do Near Veterans Oasis Park
Looking for other fun things to do near Veterans Oasis Park? Here are some great options:
- Cool off at the fun and cheap pool at Mesquite Groves Aquatic Center (4 minutes away)
- Let the kids burn off some energy at Lantana Ranch Park playground (7 minutes away)
- Have a picnic and play at the huge playground at Gilbert Regional Park (7 minutes away)
- Try to spot the burrowing owls at Zanjero Park (8 minutes away)
- Climb aboard the trains at Arizona Railway Museum (9 minutes away)
- Have fun at the barn-yard style playground, Playtopia, at Tumbleweed Park (9 minutes away)
- Get your jumps in at Big Air Trampoline (13 minutes away)
- Visit the Chandler Museum (17 minutes away)
