Blue Vista Geocache Coronado Trail Scenic Drive, Eastern Arizona FAQs Favorites Our First Finding Creating Kids   Blue Vista Viewpoint Exploring the Coronado Trail Scenic Drive Having spent a couple months south of Tucson, we decided to travel to Utah by way of Highway 191 in eastern Arizona. We spent our first night south of Safford in Roper Lake State Park. The next morning we headed north on Highway 191 (formerly highway 666). This Coronado Trail Scenic Drive (120 miles of the highway) is named for Francisco Vasquez de Coronado who led the first Spanish exploration of the American Southwest in 1540. He was seeking the legendary "Seven Cities of Gold" which turned out to be adobe pueblos that contained shiny mica. The Blue Vista Viewpoint is on this highway. When we arrived at the Phelps Dodge Morenci mine at the beginning of the scenic drive, we encountered a road block. An acid spill caused the road to be closed for an hour. This gave us a chance to watch the operations of one of the largest copper mines in the world. Just beyond the roadblock we were warned by a sign that the highway is restricted to vehicles less than 40 feet long. Although the road was steep, narrow, and curvy throughout, we took it easy in our motorhome and found the drive beautiful. No problem!   To get to the nature walk and geocache, you can travel the Coronado Trail Drive (Arizona Highway 191) from the north or the south. It's located in the Apache National Forest. The Blue Vista Viewpoint is well marked. It's a loop drive parking lot just off the highway located between Hannagan Meadow (north) and Strayhorse (south).   Walking the Blue Vista Nature Trail There's a nice parking lot with room for cars and RVs. You'll find restrooms and picnic tables in the parking area. A sign marks the beginning of the Blue Vista Nature Trail. The trailhead is located at (N 33 33 887 W 109 21 205). The Apache National Forest sign says that it's 1540 feet (about a quarter mile) to the Vista Point at an elevation of 9184 feet. After a series of cement steps down the hill, follow the easy trail along the ridge through the woods. We had to navigate over two downed trees, but otherwise the trail was in good shape. Unfortunately, most of the Forest Service interpretive signs are gone.   The picture below shows Annette and Larry at the viewpoint. The other picture (below right) shows Annette setting up the camera to take the picture. Blue Vista Viewpoint Parking Lot Be sure to keep your eye out for wildlife. We saw squirrels along the trail. Up the road a few miles we saw several herds of elk and a coyote. Also look for Mexican wolves that have been introduced to the area.   Placing the Geocache We placed the cache close to the best viewpoint just off the trail. The mountains in the distance are beautiful shades of blue. It was quiet except for the sound of the rustling pine trees. The day was perfect for geocaching, it was cool and breezy.   We got out our GPS device and checked the location. The cache is at N 33 33 655 W 109 21 166.   The tan ammo box cache contains a log book, trashbags, and a camera, bookmarks, and a traveling "Where's George" dollar. The treasures include 2 stuffed beanies (bear & rhino), hacky sack, 4 toy cars, 1 plastic frog, 1 snake ball, 1 pair of dice, 1 knife key ring, 2 gems, painted rock, and a climbing clip. Don't read this section if you don't want to learn the cache location hints. When you get to the end of the main trail (there's a bend in the trail, but it gets smaller after the viewpoint), you'll find the cache about 20-30 feet east, southeast. Go "off trail" at W 33 33 657 W 109 21 170. We found a great spot below a rock outcropping. In the picture below, you can see that the cache is covered with rocks. There are some thorny bushes near the cache, walk on the rocks to avoid them.     Exploring the Geocache We have a few suggestions if you want to visit the geocache.   1) Take your time along the Coronado Trail Scenic Drive. There are very few cars on the highway, but there's a good chance you might encounter animals in the road.   2) There are tons of great places to camp and hike in the national forest. Bring your tent and spend the night along the drive. If you're RVing and want electricity, try Roper Lake State Park (south of Safford) or Lyman Lake State Park (south of St Johns). There are also several places to 'boondock' camp, even with your RV.   3) The hike would be best in the Fall or Spring. There's lots of snow in the winter and it's hot in the summer.   We hope you enjoy our third geocache! :-)   Go to the Blue Vista page at geocaching.com for additional details and logs.   FAQs Favorites Our First Finding Creating Kids Created by Annette Lamb and Larry Johnson, 04/02.