With the weather bordering on the phenomenal, we decided to get out of Phoenix for a day trip up to the Boyce-Thompson Arboretum, some thirty of so miles outside of the Phoenix metro area (depending on where you start measuring.)
Although I’m not particularly interested in botany, I’ve always liked the arboretum. It’s set in a stunning desert environment, along Queen Creek, and is an idyllic place to spend an afternoon. There is even a small picnic area on the grounds so you can take lunch and make a day of it.
On our last trip, before James was born, the statewide drought had rendered Queen Creek completely dry. Although the drought isn’t over, the recent rain and snowfall have the creek running again, and that just adds to garden ambiance of the arboretum.
After we were done at the arboretum, but while were in the area around the town of Superior, we decided to see if you could find any geocaches in the area. Superior is at the base of a cliff known as Apache Leap and above that a plateau known as Oak Flat. Many of the geocaches in the area require getting impractically close to the cliffs (if not actually scaling down them.) With the kids, we tried to identify one or two that would be “easy†to get to. I was only somewhat successful at my choices.
The first cache was easy to find. Located on level ground, not far from an access road, the GPS brought us right to it. This was a “traditional†cache, stored inside an ammo box and it was filled with toys, which delighted the kids no end. We swapped out one of their toys for something in the box, signed the log book and put the cache back in place.
Jazzed on our success, we headed for the next one. I knew we were in trouble when we pulled up. I knew it was on a pullout as you approach the top of Oak Flat along the Queen Creek canyon, but I (wishfully, perhaps) though it would be on the road side, not the opposite side of the creek. The canyon isn’t very deep at that point, but it was too rough for the kids. I proceeded on my own, first climbing down one side, then crossing and beginning to climb up the other side.
The clue indicates that the cache, which is the size of a film can, is located in a rocky crag. The problem is: that’s like placing the cache in a forest and saying it’s “in or near a tree.†Everywhere you look is a rocky crag along the canyon wall. I dug around looking at crag after crag, cautiously checking them for animals, but eventually had to give up. The kids, sitting in the parking lot, had gotten tired, and since the parking lot was busy and the highway next to it was bustling with high-speed traffic, I gave up and returned.
Someday, I shall return to find this one.