Tucson, Arizona (February 17, 2017) Little did I know that when I biked to Agua Caliente Park this morning, it would be the last time I would visit this “hidden gem” near our home on the northeast side of town. In April, you see, Debra and I move from Tucson, where we lived for 19 years, to Peoria, located northwest of Phoenix.
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Many times over the years, we’ve visited this 101-acre park to watch the ducks, turtles, and other wildlife that called the lake their home and take a leisurely stroll along the well-maintained network of trails lined with mesquite and other native plants. It was, for us, an oasis in the desert!
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Of course, we weren’t the first people to visit – archaeologists found evidence that “hunters and gatherers” inhabited this area 5,500 years ago, perhaps drawn by the hot spring that contained water heated by geothermal heat. Fast forward to 1873, when modern man built a ranch and health resort on the property and promoted the therapeutic benefits of the agua caliente, or “hot water.”
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From storyboards along the trail, we learned that there were once two springs on the property – a hot spring and a cold spring. These springs were blasted in the 1930s to increase the flow rate of water. Oops! The two springs collapsed into one – neither hot or cold – and the water flow decreased by half. Lesson learned, right? Wrong! This single spring was blasted yet again in the early 60s with the same result – the flow rate was again cut in half.
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Fortunately, Pima County purchased this property in 1984, through the largesse of Tucson native and businessman Roy P. Drachman, to preserve this beautiful ecosystem as Aqua Caliente Park for future generations to enjoy as much as Debra and I have!
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