If you read this travel blog regularly, you are probably thinking that there was a post not too long ago about a trip to the Boyce Thompson Arboretum. Firstly, good memory! Secondly, the Boyce Thompson Arboretum is over 300 acres of natural and man-made features that it is hard to cover in just one day. As it is only a 30-minute drive from Apache Junction, AZ, we can explore the beauty of this place again and cover parts of the arboretum that were not touched on before. Moreover, the day that we visited the arboretum the Flavor of Arizona Festival took place which drew an amazing number of visitors adding to the liveliness of this magical place.

Let’s explore more of what Boyce Thompson Arboretum has to offer!

 

Bring Your Hiking Boots for This Trip

 

On this particular visit to the arboretum, we scaled the trails and parts of the park that varied in elevation. To help get the feet warmed up, we started with the Curandero Trail which highlighted plants used for medicinal purposes in Mexican and other Latin cultures. Learning and being active at the same time is one of my favorite aspects of composing this blog and this trail helped with that notion!

On this short hike, which is great for folks who want to take it easy while at the arboretum, there are several ground signs that explained the plants that hikers will see as the traverse the gravel path. One will see those signs talking about various plants such as Trumpet Flowers, Desert Lavender, and White Ratany.

The info found on the signs talks about how these plants were utilized for medicinal purposes and where each plant is commonly found.  If the visitors are walking through this path during a specific time of years, they will get to experience the budding flowers and wonderful aromas. Also, one great aspect of the Boyce Thompson Arboretum is that several of their signs are in English and Spanish which helps to welcome more visitors to this beautiful area of Arizona.

 

Onward to the Next Exciting Feature

 

After walking through the first trail, we wanted to go explore parts of the arboretum where the views are higher, the plants are newer to us, and various wonders of the Arboretum are undiscovered, so we headed east on the Arboretum Main Trail.

One amazing aspect of the Boyce Thompson Arboretum is that it’s 100 years old and attendees will be reminded of this throughout the park. This is partially achieved by experiencing several large-scale photographs comparing the trails from a time long-passed to what the visitors experience now. It is awe-inspiring to see these photos and realize how long a tree canopy takes to get established.

This particular path took us to a unique feature that is not actually natural to this area, Ayer Lake. This particular lake is the largest consistent body of water found inside of arboretum and the water pumped to this location by a well. Since the lake is higher in elevation than most of the arboretum, it is utilized as one of the main sources of irrigation water for the thousands of plants found onsite.

Despite Ayer Lake being manmade, there are countless plants, birds, and fish that have come to rely on this water oasis. It is also a great place for birdwatching as there are signs near a ramada that highlight which birds park goers may spot.

After feeling the cooling effect of the nearby water source, we trekked on to see the beautiful sights of the various plants in the foreground and the majestic mountains in the background. Be sure to take your time while on this part of the trail as there is quite an elevation change. After continuing on the path and seeing the various species of plants in the South American Deserts Exhibit and spotting the historic Picket Post House, we came up another manmade feature that certainly enhanced our experience, the Berber Suspension Bridge.

This bridge connects the Arboretum Main Trail to the High Trail and traverses over the Queen Creek Wash. The bridge was built in 2004 and spans nearly 100 feet to give visitors a spectacular perspective to see the park overlooking the Queen Creek Wash. Coincidentally, it rained a few days prior to us visiting so the wash was flowing with the runoff from the nearby ridge.  We decided to go to the end of the bridge and turn back onto the Main Trail as we were working up an appetite.

 

Flavor of Arizona Festival, What a Treat

 

Walking, hiking, sightseeing, smelling the flowers, and saying hello to various park-goers for a couple of hours certainly helps work up an appetite! We were in luck with the Flavor of Arizona Festival going on the day of our visit in the main picnic area.

This was the second time this event took place inside of the arboretum and it drew hundreds of visitors from around the area to convene over food, art, and a variety of drinks.  We were hungry and we were not the only ones that came with an appetite. There were several choices of food, hydration options, and spirited beverage choices. We decided to walk the perimeter of the festival area and see what each booth was offering. After settling on a couple of choices, it was great to see such an eclectic mix of food options such as Cajun and Asian cuisine. It was great to also see local artists incorporated throughout the festival area which included paintings, jewelry, and other works of art. Since the picnic area is not too far from the parking lot, it is not hard to purchase a one-of-a-kind item, place it in your vehicle and continue exploring the vast desert garden.

In case there were not enough food choices within the festival area, there is a coffee shop adjacent to the gift shop with more drink and bakery items to choose from.

 

Walking Off the Food Festival

 

Since the Flavor of Arizona Festival takes place in the middle of the trail system, it is easy to pick another trail to explore and help walk off the recently consumed items. We chose to now try out the Wallace Main Trail which is on the west side of the arboretum.  While there were several ground signs identifying the various desert plants, one cannot help but notice the beautiful artwork that adorns part of this trail.

One particular piece of art that caught our attention was a statue entitled, “Do you hear what I hear”.

This statute consists of a horse standing over a Native American who appears to be drinking from a pool of water. This bronze statue was made by an artist from Mesa, Arizona and park goers will see other works of art along all of the trails in the arboretum.  Moreover, there are various sculptures scattered throughout the arboretum that will be auctioned off in Fall 2024. The proceeds from the auction will go to help sustain the operations of the Boyce Thompson Arboretum for the next 100 years.

After a good day of hiking, sightseeing and eating, it was time to head home, but what a great day that is now filled with beautiful memories. If you haven’t been to the Boyce Thompson Arboretum or it’s been some time since you stepped foot in Arizona’s largest botanical garden, then maybe it’s time to see its beauty, both natural and man-made works of art.