The Final Post from Yuma

 Saturday morning started at Martha's Gardens, a date farm in Yuma, where geocachers gathered to get a passport listing 20 locations in and around Yuma where we needed to find an object or geocache to get a number to complete the passport. By 8:30 vehicles were heading out like race horses leaving the gate. We've done this so many times (maybe 7 times in 8 years) that it is getting harder to find interesting places we have not seen before. We completed the race and turned in our passports about 1:00 and rewarded ourselves with lunch at Lutz.

Then it was off to work on a couple more Adventure Labs we had started on Friday. We attended one more event on Saturday evening hosted by geocachers from Washington state.

The following photos are of locations and geocaches we found while driving around the Yuma area.

within a couple hundred feet of the wall and the Mexican border

African daisies in a yard out in the country

trimmed trees on Main Street in Somerton

One of two very tough geocache hides we found, thanks to some help from other geocachers. This was a rail spike in a no longer used railroad bed. 

The geocache is a bit shinier and a different shape than the other rail spikes. When you have no idea what you are looking for the task is much harder. 

 one of ten murals we found during our weekend adventure

this cache owner used a VCR tape to create the geocache log 

winding the log between the two spools

another clever idea

a mural on the campus of Arizona Western College

completed on Monday on our way out of town

also completed on Monday 

Each of the green circles is an Adventure Lab in Yuma, most of them having 10 geocache locations. There are two we have not completed, the two without checkmarks in the center. I found 18 on the map that we have completed and four we have yet to do. We will not run out of geocaches in Yuma! So until next year...

SWAG ~ The Main Event

 The main event of the weekend in Yuma is held on Sunday morning, 9 AM to 2 PM. We arrived at West  Wetlands Park about 10, signed the registration board and went looking for people we knew. 

registration board

Signal, the geocaching mascot getting close and personal!

Then it was off to do some geocaching within the park. There were two new sets of 10 caches each for us to complete as we walked around the area, looking for the words or numbers needed to answer the posted question. Adventure Labs do not have containers and log sheets like most other geocaches.

Sherry in a tree without having to leave the ground

bamboo and palms along the Colorado River

great paths for walkers, joggers and bikers 

in the West Wetlands Park

Shetland ponies pulling carts in the park

an even smaller, maybe younger Shetland pony and cart

10 more geocaches added to our total count

and 10 more by answering trivia questions about Yuma

the virtual souvenir for attending the event on Sunday

S*W*A*G is celebrating 20 years with the longest running Mega-Event at the same location in 2024. This year the Event was held on February 4, 2024. The very first event in 2004 drew just six cachers. Each year after that the numbers increased. 2013 brought the first year of Mega status with 588 cachers attending. Each year since, the S*W*A*G Mega has averaged 543 cachers attending the Yuma event, bringing geocachers back year after year to renew friendships and join in the activities over several days. Yuma offers sunshine, friendly hospitality, caching on the Barry Goldwater test range, the Sonoran Desert, near lettuce fields and fruit orchards, and features some very unique gadget caches, all within a short drive of the Event location.

Then it was time for lunch and to make a plan for the rest of the day. 

Yuma Pioneer Cemetery

 We arrived in Yuma in the early afternoon and began geocaching in one of my favorite locations for finding hidden treasure...a cemetery. I had not been to the Yuma Pioneer Cemetery prior to Friday afternoon. 

established in 1895

one of the more ornate headstones in the older section

descendants of this deceased have upgraded the pauper headstone

another ornate memorial in the pauper section of the cemetery

many pauper headstone 

this family of three had diorama headstones

ornate statues behind glass

we found 10 specific headstones and got our answers 

to earn this virtual souvenir

Then it was time to find the other geocaches in the Yuma Pioneer Cemetery. This cache required some tree climbing and Sherry was willing and able to make the attempt.

Then it was a stretch for our vertically challenged friend to reach the locked container and open it to get the log for our signatures.

I had not seen a pink headstone before

the Hispanic section of the cemetery

pom-poms decorating this grave

three crosses designating the Hispanic section

another unique grave marker

The geocaching event on Friday late afternoon was the Flash Mob. Geocachers were encouraged to wave cash (real or fake) as they walked around the traffic circle in downtown Yuma. The event takes about 5 minutes, but gives us an opportunity to see and visit with other geocachers attending the weekend SWAG events. Sherry took a photo of me waving my large $100. We enjoyed dinner at the Da Boyz, Italian restaurant near the event. 

Naked Date Farm

 We have been stopping at the Naked Date Farm for several years on our trips to Yuma for the SouthWest Association of Geocaching (SWAG) event in early February. This was our first stop in late January 2016. There have been MANY changes to the organic date farm since our first visit. (clink on the link to see our visit in 2016.)

Our visit was around lunch time. The three of us ordered a plate of pork sliders to go with our date shakes. The Naked Date Farm is open for business Thursday through Sunday and now serves breakfast along with lunch and dinner. The food is very good.

rentable sleeping/glamping tents have been added to the grounds

we counted 5 tents

we were told they are very popular during their live music weekends

the showcase of date treats is a new addition

bean bag boards or corn hole 

the High Tanks Brewing company is also 

a new entity to the date farm

storage for the harvested dates, since the weather has been cool

we were allowed to peek in one of the glamping tents

looks quite comfy - rents for $85 a night

there is also a vintage 1975 camper available for rent @$95 a night

a little color amongst the date trees

cloth canopies for some shade

new tables at the outdoor dining space

it was not busy when we stopped, but it is a popular place

for ATVers to wash down the desert dust

Sherry heading for one of the nearby geocaches