A Lazy Boxng Day in Tucson Mountain Park

Well, I think yesterday really did us in. I thought since we had done so much hiking and were out for most of the day that we would have both slept like babies through the night. But we both seemed to have a restless night and ended up tossing and turning most of the night. I was even jolted awake at one point with charley horses in both calves at the same time. I sat bolt upright and screamed "Oooooowwwwww!" and woke Thomas up. It took me 15 to 20 minutes to massage the cramps away. So this morning we both ended up moving really slow and we didn't get down to breakfast until 8:30am and we didn't get on the road until 9:30am.

I had decided last night that we would spend the day in Tucson Mountain Park. So I had mapped out our route and we set off for the first area and boxes. We were going to look for a series of five boxes and one other box on some newer trails that are an extension of the Tucson Mountain Trails. We followed the driving directions and parked at the end of this road. We got out things and started to follow the clues. The first two or three sentences of the clues made sense but after that things just didn't seem right. We were suppose to come to about five or six trail junctions and make turns as well as meet up with a sign saying "Posted. Keep Out." After about 20 minutes of walking we had only encountered two junctions and no signs. For some reason it just didn't feel right so we ended turning back and heading to the car. I think we were both just really tired and didn't have the energy to really follow such detailed clues. Once we were back in the car we looked at other clues for the park and decided to head up Kinney Rd. to Old Tucson Studios. We parked and started following the clues and about half way to the box a group of four people were walking toward us. I recognized one of those people as deniserows. With her was a family that goes by the trail name of The Rats of the West. We talked for a short time and then The Rats of the West headed off and we invited deniserows to join us in finding a few boxes. Since she had just found the one here at the Studios I went and found the box (AZJokester's "You Son of a Motherless Goat") and stamped while she and Thomas chatted. Then we all piled into our car and headed off. The first stop we made was at the parking area K26. Thomas stayed at the car and read (he needed the break, I really pushed him yesterday) while deniserows and I went and found Azroadie's Geology 101: Shale letterbox. It was a short walk to the box with a lot of going around things to get there. Pretty much a quick and easy driveby. We returned to the car and drove the short distance to the K19 parking area. Again deniserows and I took short walk up a trail and then off trail and uphill to the box. Here we found Kristal and Ron's Coati Corner. We stamped and chatted and then returned back to the car. That was another quick and easy find. We then left Kinney Rd. and drove just a little ways down McCain Loop Rd. to the M8 parking area. We started down the trail and followed the clues (well, we kind of followed the clues) and we got to a spot after counting the number of steps and low and behold there were no saguaros. So we walked back and counted the steps again and still no saguaros. After rereading the clues (3 times for each of us) we finally realized we hadn't gone far enough. So we continued on and guess what - we found the box - Azroadie's Brown Mountain. Funny how that happend when you pay attention to the clues instead of just chatting away. So we stamped in, rehid the box and returned to the car. There was still one more box that both deniserows and I needed to find before we would part ways. So we headed to the G7 parking area on Gates Pass Rd. and we headed out while Thomas read in the car. You would have thought that we would have learned our lesson on the previous box, but you would be wrong. We continued to just chat away and ended up getting confused again and realized we had gone way too far. So we turned back and this time paid attention and easily found the box - Azroadie's Geology 101: Sandstone. Now that we had gotten all the boxes that we both needed it was time to go our separate ways. We drove deniserows back to her car at the studios and said goodbye - until tomorrow for the event.

It was about 2:30pm and even though deniserows had kind of boosted us with her energy we were still feeling pretty tired. We decided to try for five more boxes (two boxes and a series of three boxes) before calling it a day. We drove to the K16 parking area (because that is what the clues said) and we tried to follow the clues but they weren't making sense. As I read one of the clues it stated that the parking area was just across the street from the stop sign - but there was no stop sign at the K16 parking area. So we drove back to the stop sign and found the parking area across from it and that turned out to be K15 and the right parking area. So we hit the trail. First we found Baqash's Arizona Pug which was only about 50 yards from the trail sign. After that we took a short walk on the Cougar Trail to find angel1551us' C is for Cougar. Now time for the series. This was angel1551us' Gates Pass Trail series - with a walk of about 1.5 miles one way. So we found the first box and stamped in and rehid the box. Now I have a confession to make. While deniserows and I were finding another box she showed me where Box 2 of the series was placed so instead of walking the trail Thomas and I ended up driving to the parking area where I knew I could get to that box - so we cheated a little - we were tired, what can I say. So we parked and walked the shorter distance and found the box and stamped in. One more to go. We continued on the trail from here and found the landmark for Box 3 and followed the last bit of clue and found that box. While stamping in we discussed whether or not we wanted to try for two more boxes that were pretty short walks. We both decided it was time to call it a day. We got back to the car and headed back to the hotel. We did make one stop at the grocery store so I could get some things to contribute to the pot luck for tomorrow. We arrived at the hotel and decided to just have dinner at this Mexican Restaurant next door to the hotel. I had some great fajitas at Las Cazuelitas de Tucson. Once we were stuffed we walked back to the hotel and the first thing I did was take a nice, hot shower. I still feel tired but I did have enough energy to get this post done. Tomorrow is the event - I'll let you know how it goes.