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Willcox Playa LbNA #13178

Owner:Kristal & Ron
Plant date:Jan 20, 2005
Location:
City:Willcox
County:Cochise
State:Arizona
Boxes:1
Found by: Roger&Ellora
Last found:Feb 19, 2021
Status:FFFFFFFFFOFFFFFFFFFF
Last edited:Oct 28, 2015
Distance: less than ½ mile roundtrip
Difficulty: not. very flat.


It is well-known that snowbirds flock to Arizona in the winter. The town of Willcox, in southeastern Arizona, welcomes two kinds of snowbirds – the happy human retirees and the sandhill cranes. As many as 30,000 sandhill cranes can be found at the Willcox Playa from October to March every year.

TO THE TRAILHEAD
From Willcox, go southeast on Hwy 186 for 6 miles to Kansas Settlement Road. Turn south and go about 4 miles to a small parking lot (on the right) for the Willcox Playa Wildlife Area. There is a dirt road you can walk down to get to a “viewing area” that looks toward the lake. Unfortunately, you can’t get very close and we were unable to see any cranes on the ground, even with powerful binoculars. We did, however, see many large groups flying overhead. If you’d like a better look, try the guided tours… call 1-800-200-2272 for more information.

TO THE LETTERBOX
From the parking lot, take the dirt road toward the viewing area, stopping when you get to the third blue arrow sign. Go 42 steps at 220 degrees from north, then find the cottonwood tree at 115 degrees from north. The box is in the small stand of salt cedars just to the west of the cottonwood, covered by bark and sticks.