Aztec Peak LbNA #: 21219
CluesDifficulty: Clues and walk easy
Walking time: about 5 minutes one way
Stamp hand-carved
Status: alive and well on October 19, 2009
This letterbox is placed in honor of the anarchist, activist, philosopher, author Edward Abbey (1927-1989) who made the southwest his spiritual home. As a nature writer, he is probably best known for his book Desert Solitare; and as a novelist, his book The Monkey Wrench Gang. He worked as a fire spotter on Aztec Peak in the Sierra Ancha Mountains and did some of his writing there. Aztec Peak is above the upper end of Workman Creek Canyon where the box is placed.
Abbey wrote about this area in his personal journal (published in the book Confessions of a Barbarian): “May 7, 1977 – Aztec Peak Fire Lookout, Arizona. Lookout job. A beautiful place: yellow pine and aspen and spruce, eight thousand feet elevation. Spectacular view: Roosevelt [Reservoir], Superstition Mountains, Four Peaks, Mogollon Rim, Salt River Canyon, Sierra Ancha Wilderness, buttes and mesas of the Fort Apache Reservation.
Winds have been howling for three days now. Nobody here but me and Ellie, our black Labrador mutt.
The lookout is a live-in, new (built in 1960), on a fifty-foot tower. No woodstove, unfortunately – only stinking propane. Cistern with rainwater and one decomposing rat, which I removed.”
From U. S. Highway 60 in Globe, take State Highway 188 north. Turn right (north) on State Highway 288. At milepost 284, turn right (east) on the dirt road (Forest Road 487) into the “Workman Creek Recreation Area” (there is a brown sign for it at the turn). Drive up the road for about 2.4 miles. A short distance after the “Falls Recreation Site”, the road widens as a turn-around and parking area just before a green gate. Park here. At the time of the placing of this box, the gate was closed and had a “Road Closed” sign on it. This is at an elevation of 6,260 feet.; so, expect some snow part of the winter.
Just before the green gate, above the north side of the road, is a tall large snag. Walk up the slope up to it. Just after the gate there is a less-steep slope you can use to get to it. From the north east side of the snag, walk uphill at about 30 degrees (from mag. north) for about 45 steps to a tall live Pine Tree. This tree is against the east side of a long, dead, downed tree that points south. The box is hidden on the north side of the live Pine Tree and slightly under the dead tree. The box is under a flat rock covered with twigs, bark and plant debris. Be alert for snakes.
Please be sure the contents are double ziplocked when you put them back in the box (i.e. the stamp is in a ziploc, the book is in a ziploc, and the two are in the larger ziploc bag). Please rehide the box well under the rock, twigs and plant debris so that it can not be seen from any direction.
For a beautiful view of a waterfall, walk up the road for maybe about a half mile or so, over a wood plank bridge, to a low concrete wall on the right side of the road.
I will not be able to check on this box very often; so, please let me know if you find it. Also, let me know if it is missing so that I can delete the clues:
http://home.att.net/~azroadie/letterboxing.html
Please record your find at www.letterboxing.org/ or at www.atlasquest.com/ .
If you live in Arizona or New Mexico or have an interest in letterboxes in those states, you are invited to join the Letterboxing Southwest Discussion Group. Go here to join: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LetterboxingSouthwest/ .
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Before you set out, please read the
waiver of responsibility and disclaimer.
Please be sure to reseal baggies and boxes carefully so that they stay dry
and rehide boxes in their original location, completely hidden from view. |
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