Letterboxing Rodeo in Tucson

Thomas and I are heading to Arizona for about a week to attend an event. We will actually be going to two events - Padre Kino's Quest and 15th Annual Tucson Gathering: Rodeo! - the first at Tumacácori National Historical Park and the second at Catalina State Park. Looks like there will be around 60 new boxes placed for the event and there are quite a few other boxes in the area. This will definitely keep us busy during our stay in Tucson. 
January 29 - February 5, 2019

It's Rodeo Time!

Today is event day - it is the 15th Annual Tucson Gathering: Rodeo! hosted by Martini Man and Wisconsin Hiker at Catalina State Park in Oro Valley. I had gotten the clues from Wisconsin Hiker yesterday at the Padre Kino's Quest event. Thomas and I spent part of the afternoon yesterday finding ten boxes at the park. So today it is about meeting everyone at the pavilion and doing some more letterboxing.

We started the day early and headed out to the park to continue letterboxing a bit before the event started. At the park we went back to the Equestrian Center to find two boxes that we didn't have time for yesterday. We left the parking area and took a trail around a hill to find those two boxes. We easily found Bronco Rider by Dawgdok and Catalina Roundup by Shutterbug2012. I stamped in to both boxes and got them back into place. Then we headed to the Picnic Area and met up with everyone at the pavilion. I first got the event stamp and then did a couple of exhanges and spent a little time visiting before heading out on the trails to get some boxes. Thomas and I left the pavilion with Lee, Pappasky and Gage and headed to the Trailhead Parking. From the parking lot we crossed over to the trails and took the Birding Trail. We hiked the one mile loop to find the 7 C's of Arizona series by Wisconsin Hiker. This was a pretty easy hike and we had no trouble finding all the boxes. As we completed the loop we were back at the trailhead and this time we took the Romero Canyon Trail to the Canyon Loop Trail to the Sutherland Trail. As we hiked this route we found nine boxes in the Big Rodeo Series. The boxes in this series were carved by different people - Sailfish, Chill-E, Shooting Starz and Shutterbug2012. On this hike we also found a single box that wasn't part of the event - Old Prospector: Abandoned Truck by Lee. This was a harder and longer hike. More uphill and about 3 miles but we did it and found all nine of the boxes. When we reached the end of the trail we were close to the parking lot. We decided to take a break and head back to the pavilion for some lunch (since it was already 1:00pm). We spent about an hour at the pavilion getting something to eat, doing some exchanges and visiting. Then around 2:00pm we all headed out again (except for Thomas) and this time did boxes that were on trails close to the pavilion. We hiked the Bridle Trail (and some small off shoot trails) and found 13 boxes. These boxes were by different carvers - Jolly Mon in the Stirrup by Jolly Mon (3 boxes); Rodeo Gear by SnakeDoctor (6 boxes); Appaloosa Horse by whitetail92 (1 box) and "It's That Damned Old Rodeo" by the man with no name (3 boxes). When we finished these boxes the trail lead us right back to the pavilion.

Back at the pavilion people were packing up since it was 5:20pm and the event was coming to an end. I did a few more exchanges and we visited a little before heading out for one last box on the way out of the park, just down the road from the pavilion. Thomas and I stopped at the Bobcat Amphitheater to find Let's Go to a . . . by Waneta Wench. This was a short walk and easy find and we were back at the car in no time. It was getting dark and the event was done. Now time for some dinner. About 25 of us went to El Molinito for some Mexican food.

At 8:30pm we said our goodbyes and left the restaurant. We had an excellent meal and we were tired. I logged 12 miles on my FitBit and found 33 boxes and all I wanted was a shower and the bed. It was an excellent event and I found some great stamps. They are talking about rain all day tomorrow so we will see if we can get any letterboxing done.

Tumacácori NHP, Padre Kino's Quest and Catalina State Park

This morning we got up early and gathered our things for a busy day. We left the hotel around 6:30am and started our journey heading south. Not far from the hotel we stopped for some breakfast and coffee and after a quick meal we continued our drive. On I19 we took Exit 40 for Tubac and headed for the Tubac Golf Resort & Spa. Here we tried to look for Más de la Pradera by de Anza Trail. The clues were fine until we got to the back of the bar patio, then we couldn't find any of the signs and it seemed weird to be traipsing over the golf course so we decided to abandon looking for this box. We returned to the car and headed for another box just down the road. After parking we followed the clues but for some reason we weren't able to find the box - not sure we were in the right place to start. So we just returned to the car and continued on to our next destination.

We drove to Tumacácori NHP to attend a Member Meet Up of the National Park Travelers Club. We visited, got the Western Member Meet Up stamp, and took a group photo. The meet up lasted about 30 minutes and then we all moved on to the next event at the park. The Padre Kino's Quest. This is a quest set up by the park mostly used for elementary school children to teach about the park. The quest has a booklet with clues and a bag with mystery tools. You go to an area in the park (designated in the booklet by letters of the alphabet from A to I) and solve the clue which leads you to a code to unlock a box with a stamp inside. You stamp that into your booklet to show you solved the mystery. This quest is right up a letterboxer's alley. We broke off into nine groups of 4-5 people. Then each group was assigned a starting point and off we went. We had a group of five - I Dig Toasters, Suffering Husband in Tow, Martini Man, Wisconsin Hiker and myself. We started at 'A' and began our quest. It took us a little over an hour to complete all nine of the challenges and collect the stamps. It was fun and a great way to learn about the park. Desert Flower arranged for us to do this with the park and she created a letterbox series for us to log in. Once everyone completed the quest we headed just a bit down the road to Wisdom's Café for some lunch. Our group pretty much filled up the entire place and the food was delicious. This was a great way to start the event weekend.

After lunch Thomas and I along with Lee decided to grab a couple of letterboxes in the area. First we looked for Anza NHT: Hike by Desert Flower. This was a quick find once we found the place to park. After stamping and putting the box back in place we headed to the second box - Red Hot Chili Peppers by FamilyTreeShakers. This proved to be a bit challenging - we couldn't find a couple of landmarks at the beginning of the clues but then we got to a part of the clues that matched the location and then we easily found the box. We stamped in, put the box back in place and then headed out. Lee left to go get set up at his campsite and we left to go do some more letterboxing.

Thomas and I made our way to Catalina State Park not far from our hotel. We got a clue packet for the 15th Annual Tucson Gathering: Rodeo! event that is happening tomorrow from Wisconsin Hiker when we had lunch so we were able to start looking for the boxes today. We entered the park, paid our fee and decided to start at the Equestrian Center to look for letterboxes. There were three series that started from the parking area. We decided to head to the Fifty Year Trail and search for two of the series - It's Rodeo Time by Waneta Wench and The Saga of Big Red by Martini Man. These two series could be found together as you went up the trail. But we goofed up and missed the first box in the It's Rodeo Time series and that got us confused. So we concentrated on the Saga of Big Red series. At some point I stopped and read all the clues in the first series and it dawned on me what we had done wrong. So we decided to look for that series on the way back down the trail. Once we got back to the trailhead we had found all 10 boxes (five boxes in each series) but it took us a couple of hours and by the time we got back to the car it was dark. But I was glad we got them done that way we would have more time for other boxes tomorrow.

We left Catalina State Park and we were both so tired we skipped dinner and headed directly to the hotel. Showered and relaxed from a really great day it is now time to sleep so we have energy for the event tomorrow.

A Day of Letterboxing in Oro Valley

After a long day of driving and letterboxing yesterday we ended up sleeping in this morning. We didn't get up until 8:00am. At about 8:30am we left our room and had some breakfast here at the hotel. After eating we headed out for a day of letterboxing in Oro Valley. This is a part of the Tucson area that I have never boxed in - so there were plenty of areas and boxes to choose from. We decided to start our day off with a three mile hike with an elevation gain of about 400 feet and the possibility of finding six boxes. We drove to Linda Vista Trail, gathered our things (letterboxing stuff, hats, water and sunglasses) and then we hit the trail. This trail is a loop but it also has a trail that goes from the trailhead to the top thus bisecting the loop. There is a series of five boxes and a single box on this trail. We started with the series of five and in the middle we looked for the single. The series of five is Funny Business in the Desert by Martini Man. The first part of the hike is easy and pretty level and we made our way to the landmarks for the first box. No problem here, we found the box, stamped in and put it back in place. Then we continued on to the second box. The clues to this box had us work a little harder as the trail climbed in elevation. As we climbed I began worrying that we missed the landmarks which included a room sized field of rocks, a saguaro with three arms and a skeleton saguaro. These things are everywhere in the area and I usually have a hard time sighting thing described like this. But thankfully we found it - but at first I thought that we were not at the right place as there was no skeleton. But I went up to the three arm saguaro and there was the skeleton horizontal behind it. I found that box and stamped in and then we continued climbing to the next box. We reached an intersection (the trail that bisects the loop) and here we looked for Washington in Arizona by Baqash. I followed the clues and thought I was at the right place but there was no box but I noticed that the ground had been dug up around the rock I was searching and then I found a felt pouch. I do believe that was in the box holding the stamp and that is all we found of the box. So we moved on to the third box in the Funny Business series. Following the clues we found the first two landmarks without a problem but then things seemed to not be right. But we kept going. Eventually we reached a landmark that matched the clues and from there we found the box. I stamped in and then replaced the box and read the clues for box four. The clues had us looking for an ancient eight arm saguaro guarding an open area on the left and the saguaro also had thumbs pointing up and down. At first I was only looking for the eight arm saguaro. So every saguaro on the left we counted the arms but nothing matched. So we stopped at some point and read further on and the next part of the clue had you take 25 steps from the eight arm saguaro and then see a faint trail to the left. I decided to take 25 steps from every saguaro  and look for the trail - nothing. We kept walking. Nothing. I had also glanced at the clue for the last box in the series thinking that I would at least know we had gone too far. We keep walking, checking out all the saguaros on the left. We stop for a break and I notice a building with solar panels - alas, that is part of the clues for the last box. So I read the clues - third back of solar panels (I have no idea if this is the first or third but I keep reading), a lone armless saguaro on the left side of the trail and finally, a yellow building to the right of the building with the solar panels. Yep folks, we were at the last box and completely missed the fourth box. So I followed the last bit of clue for the last box and easily found it - and completely by luck that I noticed the solar panels. After stamping in to the last box I thought about going back and see if I could find the fourth box - but I decided I didn't have the energy to climb back up the trail and search for an eight arm saguaro in a mountain of saguaros. So we returned to the car. I was so dissappointed in myself for not finding that one saguaro but I just didn't have it in me to go back and try again. So we headed out and decided it was time for some lunch. By the way, it took us two and a half hours to hike the loop and look for the boxes and with some back tracking and walking around to get to the boxes we logged four miles.

For lunch we wanted something quick, so I consulted my navigation system in the car for restaurants in the area. We found Rubio's - Thomas had soft beef tacos and I had soft fish tacos - delicious. After eating we headed over to BEADholiday. Thomas has been weaving using beads and he wanted to check it out. So we spent about 40 minutes looking around the store. He didn't find anything he wanted so we headed out to do some more letterboxing.

Our next destination was Canada del Oro Riverfront Park. Here we looked for six boxes. We started with Oro Series by Azroadie. The first box we found with any problems except for the fact that we only found the box. It was out in the open and the lid was off and there was nothing else around. We searched the area but found no stamp or logbook. So we continued on. We easily found the second box and I stamped in and then replaced it. After that we continued on to the third and last box. The first par of the clues worked well, we found the "Y" in the trail, went up, over, and down the berm and into the wash, we crossed the soft, white patch of sand and then nothing. The clues no longer made sense. So we tried severl options looking around for the next landmarks but we came up empty handed and called it quits. Next we looked for Virginia by Pink Ladies. This one we found easily and stamped in. From there we decided to look for one that was marked unknown and had an attempt marked on it. We searched for 10th @ Lambert by FamilyTreeShaker. The clues were good and they lead us right to the spot - but no box. We returned to the back to the park and looked for one more box. We easily found 10 Little Pigs by Pink Ladies. We stamped in and replaced the box and decided to leave this park and head to one last area to do a few more boxes.

We made our way to Oro Valley Marketplace. There are two series here that we wanted to look for in this area. First, we tackled Rainbow Trail by Dixz Doodle. This series has four boxes and we easily found all four boxes. Once we had completed this series we drove over to the other series - Flowers of the Desert 2014 by Desert Flower. There are three boxes in this series and we had no problems finding all of them. After replacing the last box we headed back to the car. On the way we bumped into HowD Girls and moonstone so we chatted for a minute and then made our way to the car. We were a bit hungry so we grabbed some burgers from In-N-Out Burgers and took them back to the hotel with us.

It was a great day, beautiful day, hiking in scenic areas with wonderful views. We logged nine miles of hiking today and found 14 boxes. It is now time to rest because starting tomorrow we are in event mode.

Out of the Way Boxing on Our Way to Tucson

We started our morning today at 6:00am when the alarm went off and by 6:30am we were on the road. From Deming we headed south on NM11 and made our way to Columbus. Once in Columbus we made a stop at Pancho Villa State Park. My Alphabetical New Mexico: P (Pancho Villa) letterbox is there. The box was still there but I wanted to update it - the wood mount on the back of the stamp was warped and the box itself was cracked. So we found the box and switched it out with a new one (same image and same hiding spot). We were only at the park for about 20 minutes before we continued on.

From Pancho Villa State Park we headed west on NM9. It was a beautiful and relaxing drive, no traffic and wonderful views. We drove from Columbus to Hatchita. In Hatchita we stopped to see an old church. From a distance we could see the steeple and from this vantage it looked like a beautiful place. But when we arrived we found the building to be in disrepair. Windows were smashed and the door was boarded up, but still it was beautiful. We also visited the Hatchita Rest Area but we refrained from using the facilities. We left Hatchita and continued our drive west and a few miles outside of Hatchita we stopped to find Little Hatchet in the Little Hatchets by wandaandpete. This was a quick and easy find just off the road near the Continental Divide Trail. From here we continued our drive through Antelope and Animas until we arrived at NM80. From Columbus to NM80 is about 88 miles. During our drive we saw the following - 7 Border Patrol vehicles, 6 private vehicles, 9 crows, 1 coyote and 2 dogs. We didn't actually see any people moving around except for the ones driving the vehicles. It was pretty isolated.

Once we arrived at NM80 we turned onto NM80 and drove south toward Rodeo. A few miles before Rodeo we turned again and this time headed west on AZ533 towards Portal. From Portal we continued on Forest Road 42 into Cave Creek Canyon Recreation Area. We made our first stop just a little past the ranger station at a pull out with sign that said "Recreation Area'. We took a short hike along the trail here and found two boxes - Elegant Trogon by Azroadie and Cavalry Training by CordivaeBlue. These were both quick and easy finds and in about 30 minutes we were back at the car. From this pull out we continued on Forest Road 42 for a little while and then turned left onto a dirt road for the South Fork Zoological Botanical Area. We drove past the gate and made our way to a parking area about a mile (not sure if this is correct) up the road. From the parking area we started to follow the clues for Thallophyta:Fungi:Pleurotos ostreatus by Desert Flower. We went a short distance and things weren't matching up with the clues so we went back to the parking area and looked around. But still nothing seemed right. Then a couple drove up and we talked to them and asked if they knew the area. They said they did and we asked if they knew of a picnic area. They said "yes" and told us how to get there. It was in the same direction we had originally gone, but apparently not far enough. So we walked and then walked some more. We never saw a picnic area. The hike was beautiful and we made five stream crossings and saw two small waterfalls. We passed a sign for Chiricahua Wilderness and eventually arrived at a fence with a pass through. At this point we had walked over a mile and found nothing to match the clues. So we turned around and met up with the couple from the parking area. They told us we passed the picnic area but all the picnic tables and port-a-potties were gone. I remembered the area and thought that it was the picnic area but because I didn't see any table we continued on. With this information we were able to follow the rest of the clues and we found the box. We spent a lot of extra time in the area because of our mistake but it was a nice hike in a beautiful area so it was all good. After getting the box hidden again we made our way back to the car. Now we needed to head for Tucson.

From Portal we retraced our drive back to NM80. At NM80 we turned and headed north until we arrived at I10. We took I10 west into Arizona and made our way to the next box. We exited at Bowie and took Apache Pass Road to Happy Camp Canyon Road and drove to Indian Bread Rocks Recreation Area. Here we looked for "Without Bread All is Misery" by Dawgdok. I followed the clues but didn't find the box. Pretty sure I was in the right place but who knows. So we left the area without finding the box and returned to I10. Our next exit was Dragoon. We left I10 and drove the three miles into the town and then turned onto N Old Ranch Road. This road is dirt and not maintained all that well so it was a bumpy ride for the next two or so miles. Then we arrived at a sign for "Jordan Canyon. Stage Station" and turned left here and drove another mile on an even more unmaintained road to a sign for "Dragoon Station". We parked and walked a short distance to a fence with a gate. We entered the gate and made our way to the ruins of the Dragoon Station and some Confedrate graves. Here we looked for California Column: Ambush at Dragoon Springs by Squatchis. You can read about the California Column at The Civil War & The California Column. We followed the clues and had a hard time locating the group of yuccas. Finally, we found them - burnt. There were two small yuccas that had come up since the fire in the area but the older plants were all black and dead. Surprisingly, we found the box - melted with pages of the logbook laying around, mostly burnt around the edges and we could just barely make our writing in the middle of some of the pages. We put the melted box and the logbook pages in a baggie and took them with us - I will give them to one of the guys who originally planted the box at the event on Saturday. By this time it was 5:00pm and we decided to call it a day.

We arrived at the hotel around 6:30pm and got checked in and settled. It was a long day but a good day. We saw some neat places that were out of the way of the main roads. Now we are in Tucson and tomorrow we will do some boxing in the Oro Valley area.

Making Our Way to Deming

Well, we are on our way to Tucson for the 15th Annual Tucson Gathering: Rodeo! letterboxing event. Thomas and I left Santa Fe at 6:30am and headed south. Thankfully, it was early and there was no traffic in Albuquerque and we easily sailed through town. The drive was uneventful and we stopped in Truth or Consequences for a quick breakfast before continuing our drive. We made a stop at the Fort Selden Rest Area to find a box. I easily found Chile Capital of the World - PAL 2016 by Yaateeh. The box (camo bag) was exposed and pretty worn and had holes in it. I was surprised it was still there, sitting out in the open. I took the box back to the car and stamped in - the box hadn't been found since 2016. Once I was done stamping in I tried to cover it up better and when I was finished you couldn't see the box at all. Then it was time to continue on.

We drove to Las Cruces where I needed to update two of my boxes. First we stopped at the place where I had my Alphabetical New Mexico: G (Pat Garrett) placed. This box went missing a while back and I haven't made it to Las Cruces to replace it, so I made sure to make this stop on this trip. We got the box replaced and I made notes so that I could rewrite the clues. Then we went in search of a letterbox. We easily found Who Really Dunnit? by Yaateeh. This was a quick and easy find and I stamped in while sitting in the car - it was pretty chilly in Las Cruces. After I got the box back in its hiding spot we moved on. Next we made our way to the Scenic View Rest Area off of Interstate 10. This rest area has a giant statue of a roadrunner made out of recycled items. I have a box here that needed to be updated - Alphabetical New Mexico: R (Roadrunner). My original box was still there but it needed lots of work - the camo bag was torn, the logbook had gotten wet and bled through, and the wood mount the stamp was on was warped. I made a whole new box and replaced it today. The clues for both of these boxes have been updated and they are ready to find. While at the rest area I attempted Great Roadrunner by WanderingOkieWomanj. The box was marked as retired but since I was here I made an attempt - didn't find the box. So we left the rest area and headed for Deming.

Once in Deming I wanted to find a box at Spring Canyon State Park (actually a section of Rockhound State Park). But that area is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays (seems weird to close the park for two days, not sure what difference it makes to have it closed) so instead we went in search of PAL Day 2018 - Deming Triangles by Yaateeh. It was a long weird drive out to the middle of nowhere. When we arrive in the area we found two concrete triangles and some wooden fencing. One of the triangles had a plaque on it. First, I went and found the box and then stamped in. Once the box was replaced I walked around the area and then examined the two triangles. I then read the plaque and I didn't understand any of it - seemed very weird and a little scary. You can read about them here - Atlas Obscura Deming, New Mexico Triangles and here - Kcymaerxthaere Triangles and here - Cultural Atlas of New Mexico - Triangles. It was an interesting visit.

We were done with letterboxing for the day so we decided to have a late lunch/early dinner at Marie's Italian Grill. After a great meal we headed for the hotel and checked in. We had a great day and I have gotten things ready for tomorrow when we make our way to Tucson.

Disney Mania Letterboxing in Colorado

I am heading out to Colorado for about a week to attend an event. This event is in Parker, CO and is being hosted by The Woodshed. The event is Disney Mania Colorado Style and will have about 470 boxes that I can look for over a three day period. I love Disney and I love letterboxing so this should make for an incredible week. There are also other boxes in the area that I will be looking for on days before and after the event.
August 1 - 7, 2018