Ending 2024 ~ Some Geocaching

 We ended 2024 by going geocaching with friends, Jon and Sherry. We had (and have, as there are more of them) geocaches by two area geocachers, abeNanna and CacheFamily on our radar. abeNanna are known for their geocaches often titled 'Rusting Away.' You guessed it; the caches usually involve a rusted piece of metal. CacheFamily, a family of 4, have recently started placing gadget and creative geocaches in the area.  Both cachers attended my October event sharing conversations and information. December 30th was the day we chose to follow-up on their suggestions.

four of us wiggled the wooden box until the lid separated from the box

the four cachers

another clever CacheFamily 3-D printed container

Sherry did not have to remove ALL the caps to find the log

another 3-D printed cute container

geocaching in Florence

Hubby and I have found most of the geocaches in the nearby community of Florence, but Jon and Sherry have not. We will need to return as there are several more to find and log.

Another new location for our friends was the Coolidge airport. It was a WWII training center for the 81st Airborne and has some remnants of the base.

the bathhouse

the swimming pool from the shallow end to the deeper end

stone/rock steps from the bathhouse up to the pool

foundations of base buildings, but not barracks

(the barracks have remnants of broken porcelain)

overgrown sidewalk between foundations

another CacheFamily 3-D printed geocache, this one on the base

another photo showing just how dry the desert is this year

This is the only original building from the WWII era. It has been renovated and is used by airport personnel.

The Coolidge airport is an active airport. It houses the air recuse vehicles for Pinal County. None of us knew the purpose of this aircraft.

another better view of the aircraft 

The Coolidge Airport is home to many small private aircraft, like this single engine, one seater plane.

another private plane anchored at the airport

There were several Sprint airplanes in various stages of dismantling on the other side of the airport. 

We visited this airport for geocaching on two previous occasions. The last time we were there we watched people jumping from airplanes while getting some geocaches in November 2016: Coolidge Airport

Our first visit was in March 2013: World War II Airports

Sherry getting a cache at the airport

We drove to Coolidge to complete the Adventure Lab set of caches by abeNanna and to find the bonus cache. Sherry, actually Jon, found the Rusting Away geocache at the Coolidge airport. We had found it in 2013.

One of the reasons besides enjoying the day with Jon and Sherry, was to earn this virtual souvenir to end 2024.

Some Time in the Desert

 We headed to the desert on Friday for a bit of geocaching. Other than attending some events, we had not geocached in AZ since arriving the end of October.

perfect temps, perfect blue sky

a field of cholla

walking along a very busy road searching for hanging containers

Superstition Mountains

5057 Peak on the left

4 saguaros supporting each other

The desert is SO DRY this season. In fact we think it is the driest in our 20 years of coming to AZ. The grass is rather tall, and if there were a fire, it would ignite so quickly. Only the palo verde trees and bushes are green.

our souvenir for spending some time in the desert 

The World Series (geocaching)

 A Valley geocacher who loves baseball, created puzzle geocaches about the World Series beginning with the first games in 1903. Hubby enjoyed doing the research to get the correct numbers to solve the World Series puzzles, all 62 of the puzzles. Several other geocachers were interested in finding the string of geocaches so a plan was made to walk in the desert on Sunday. The temperature was to be in the low 60s, perfect for a day of desert geocaching, an hour north of the Apache Junction.

heading to the first geocache

the desert is so green and quite lush right now

clouds and mountains and dirt roads

only one short road was drivable, these were walk to geocaches

buds on the staghorn cactus

wildflower sighting

one trunk developed into two saguaros

spiny goldenbush (?)

firecracker penstemon 

a LARGE animal burrow

the mountains are covered in green

lupine 

staghorn buds

caches were all easy to find

hanging in the trees

5Gs + 1B

(Sherry, Vicki, me, Hubby, Paula & Mary)

looking for ONE MORE cache, but no luck!

The price to pay for caching in the desert...boot soles filled with stickers & thorns. The left boot is clean, using a tweezers and a needle-nosed pliers. Hubby said he cleaned his boots but I bet they weren't as clean as mine!

the little stickers/thorns in the waste basket

It was a successful and fun day! We logged 64 caches on Sunday, had a great lunch at Twin Peaks and an enjoyable day with the other 4Gs. 

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