Story and photos by Cheryl Hartz
Travel to Australia, Japan, Mexico, India, Madagascar, Israel, South American, Africa, the Mediterranean, the Middle East and the Arabian peninsula without ever leaving Arizona when you hike nearly five miles of trails at the Boyce Thompson Arboretum in Superior.
Each of the arboretum’s five regions sports a system of trails and offshoots. It features a mind boggling array of the world’s flora with some 19,000 plants in more than a dozen gardens over 135 acres. And as an Audubon Important Bird Area, winter bird watching is especially rewarding.
Col. William Boyce Thompson (1869-1930) founded the arboretum in 1924 on 400 acres around the 7,000-square-foot winter home, Picket Post House, he built above Queen Creek. Locals called it the “castle on the rock.”
Thompson was a mining engineer and founder of Arizona’s Inspiration Consolidated Copper Company in Globe-Miami. He purchased Magma Mine in Superior in 1907 after becoming a millionaire.
With an American Red Cross relief mission, he observed crop failure and starvation in Russia after its 1917 Revolution, while noting how its ingenious residents used its scarce plants. This led to philanthropic projects centered around plants and plant science.
The arboretum became the first non-profit institution for scientific purposes when it incorporated in 1927.
When Thompson died in 1930, the arboretum lost most of its financial support, because the stock market crash of 1929 had left it with only one-third of the value of its assets.
From 1976-2019, the arboretum became a functional part of Arizona State parks. It became an independent non-profit in 2019.
Winter is the perfect season for extended hikes in the arboretum, with its mild Valley temperatures. If it’s still too warm for you, shade trees abound. This includes North America’s largest and most diverse stand of eucalyptus trees.
The Main Trail is easy and most of it is wheelchair accessible. The High Trail is more strenuous, with a bridge crossing where it meets the Wallace Desert Garden Trail.
Pets are welcome as long as they are leashed. Because of a recent outbreak of canine distemper in park wildlife as of this writing in September, you might want to leave your dogs at home. If not, make sure their vaccinations are current. Check the website for recommendations.
The arboretum offers a number of tours and walks, if you’d rather not explore on your own. Find these on the website, also.
Happy global hiking!
