Arizona
Something went into the water on an Arizona river float or lake day
The lower Salt River, Lake Pleasant, Lake Havasu, Tempe Town Lake, Oak Creek and Patagonia Lake
A float down the lower Salt River, through the Tonto National Forest, lasts two to four hours by the tubing operator's own account. Lake Pleasant's surface swells from a little over 3,000 acres (about 1,200 hectares) to almost 10,000 (about 4,000 hectares) at its fullest. With a lost ring, a phone or the car keys on water like that, the first question is where, as near as you can say.
Ring Seekers is a lost ring and jewelry recovery service that connects people who lost a ring, wedding band, watch, keys or phone in Arizona with a metal detectorist who can search there. Tell us what happened and where. We find a detectorist who can reach the place, brief them with your map and photos, and tell you honestly if the odds are poor.
The same goes for engagement rings, Oura rings, earrings, necklaces, bracelets, chains, Apple Watches, key fobs, metal-framed glasses and hearing aids, on the water, on a desert park lawn, at a spring training ballpark or at a golf resort.
Put-in, take-out and a photo of the shore
On the Salt River, write down where you put in and where you got out. Water Users, Blue Point Bridge, Pebble Beach, Goldfield, Phon D Sutton and Granite Reef are the names on Visit Mesa's float routes, and naming two of them turns a whole river into one stretch. At a lake, stand where your towel or your boat was and photograph the shore with a ramp, a ramada or a buoy line in the frame.
For a lost phone in river water, open your phone maker's finder on another device and screenshot what it shows. Salt River Tubing's website says it has a lost and found, so call them as well. Then send us the pin, the photos and the date on WhatsApp. There is no need to sit on the bank searching for a metal detectorist near me. That part is our job.
Areas and towns we cover in Arizona
- Phoenix
- Scottsdale
- Tempe and Tempe Town Lake
- Mesa
- Glendale
- Chandler
- Lower Salt River recreation sites
- Lake Pleasant Regional Park
- Lake Havasu City
- Lake Havasu State Park
- Lake Powell and Page
- Lake Mohave and Katherine Landing
- Grand Canyon South Rim
- Sedona
- Slide Rock State Park
- Flagstaff
- Prescott
- Tucson
- Saguaro National Park
- Patagonia Lake State Park
- Yuma
Arizona, one stretch of water or grass at a time
Arizona has no separate area pages yet, so the detail is here.
The lower Salt River, from Water Users to Granite Reef
Most tubing trips begin at Water Users Recreation Site, by Visit Mesa's guide to the river. From there the guide gives a shorter float to Blue Point Bridge, about 2 to 2.5 hours to Phon D Sutton and around 4 hours to Granite Reef, and it lists Pebble Beach to Goldfield Recreation Site as a route of its own. Tell us where you started, where you got out, and roughly how long you had been on the water.
Lake Pleasant Regional Park's ramps, bays and camps
Lake Pleasant Regional Park covers 23,362 acres (about 9,450 hectares) in the northwest Valley, with camping, boating, fishing and swimming on Maricopa County Parks' list. It has boat-in camping, the Castle Creek boat ramp at the north entry, Scorpion Bay Marina, Yavapai Point and Cole's Bay. A message such as "ten steps left of the ramp, waist deep" gives a detectorist somewhere to start.
Lake Havasu City's channel beaches and the state park
London Bridge Beach lies along the Bridgewater Channel and has a beach, a buoyed swimming area, two playgrounds and sand volleyball courts. Rotary Community Park has 40 acres (16 hectares), its own buoyed swim area and six volleyball courts. Lake Havasu State Park, near the London Bridge, has sandy white beaches, three boat ramps, 54 campsites and 13 beachside cabins. Tell us whether the item went missing on dry sand, at the water's edge, inside the buoys or off a boat.
Valley city parks and Tempe Town Lake
Chaparral Park in Scottsdale has volleyball courts, sports fields, picnic areas and a dog park with 3 acres (1.2 hectares) of grass. There, tell us which court or which corner of the field. Tempe Town Lake is more than 2 miles (3.2 km) long, with paths along its edges. The City of Tempe's boating program covers rowing, kayaking and stand-up paddleboarding, and boats can be rented from a vendor at the lake. Phoenix city parks, spring training ballparks and golf resorts around the Valley are handled the same way.
Oak Creek at Slide Rock and the snow around Flagstaff
Slide Rock State Park is 43 acres (17 hectares) in Oak Creek Canyon. It is named for the slide in the creek. Flagstaff sits at 7,000 feet (about 2,130 metres). Flagstaff Snow Park, at Fort Tuthill County Park, has tubing and snow play, and Arizona Snowbowl is 12 miles (19 km) outside town, on the western slope of Mount Humphreys.
Tucson's Reid Park and Patagonia Lake State Park
Gene C. Reid Park in Tucson is about 156 acres (63 hectares). It holds a rose garden, ponds, ramadas, a dog park and the Georges DeMeester Outdoor Performance Center, where concert-goers bring chairs or blankets and sit on the grass in front of the stage. Patagonia Lake State Park lies in the rolling hills of southeastern Arizona, with a beach, a marina and more than 100 campsites, and people swim, boat and water ski there.
Lake Powell, Lake Mohave, the South Rim and Saguaro
On Lake Powell, Lone Rock Beach lies just past the state line on Highway 89, near Wahweap and Page, and people drive onto the sand, camp and swim there. Katherine Landing, near Bullhead City, is the Lake Mohave side of Lake Mead National Recreation Area, with a launch ramp, a fishing pier and sandy coves. At the Grand Canyon, Mather Point is a short walk from the South Rim visitor center, on the paved Rim Trail. Saguaro National Park's two districts sit either side of Tucson.
Between your first message and a search in Arizona
Bartek reads every message himself
You write to Bartek on WhatsApp. He asks the questions, looks for the detectorist and tells you how the search went.
Nobody sets off without your map and photos
The put-in and take-out, the pin, the shore photos and the picture of the item all go to the detectorist first. The search is planned from those.
Moving water and still water get different answers
Keys in the sand at Rotary Community Park and a ring somewhere along the Salt River are not the same search. You hear how we rate yours before anything is booked.
Our questions follow the place
At Lake Pleasant we ask the date, because the surface changes with the season. On the Salt River it is the put-in and the take-out. At London Bridge Beach it is which side of the buoy line.
Costs come up before any date does
We explain the costs before any search is booked.
What July, a river current and a Flagstaff winter change
July in Phoenix
Phoenix reaches about 106°F (41°C) on an average July afternoon, the National Weather Service's records show. Do not stay out in that combing a beach by hand. Mark the spot, take your photos and get into the shade.
The Salt River keeps moving
In a current, a light item such as a phone or a pair of glasses could be carried on from where it went in. That is why we ask for the time as well as the place.
Snow at 7,000 feet
Flagstaff gets over 100 inches (about 2.5 metres) of snow in an average year, on its visitor bureau's figure. If something comes off in the snow, drop a pin and photograph the spot the same day with a building or a tree line behind.
If it happened on the Salt River, at a lake or on a park lawn
We floated the Salt River from Water Users to Phon D Sutton, and my husband's wedding band was gone when we got out. Is a stretch that long any use to a detectorist?
It is a start, and you can narrow it. Tell us when he last saw the ring on his hand, how long you had been floating by then, and any bank you stopped at. It may be a long shot, and you would hear that from us first.
My ring slipped off in the shallows at Lake Pleasant this morning. All I know to search for is metal detecting Arizona. What do I do with that?
Leave that search to us. A metal detectorist is who looks for a single ring, and finding one who can get to Lake Pleasant is our part. Yours is the place: the nearest ramp or bay by name, how deep you stood, and a photo of the shore.
My iPhone went over the side of a kayak on Tempe Town Lake. Is there anything worth doing tonight?
Yes, open Find My on another device. Apple says it can show a device's last known location for up to seven days. Screenshot it, then tell us which shore you were nearer and what you were level with.
My engagement ring came off on the grass at Chaparral Park in Scottsdale an hour ago. My phone is showing metal detector rental Phoenix results. Try that first?
Yes, try it. A fresh loss on a lawn, in a patch you can point to, is what a rented detector suits, and dry sand is the same. A detectorist makes more sense for wet sand, water, a large area or a small item such as an earring.
Our car keys are somewhere in the sand at London Bridge Beach in Lake Havasu City. What should we do before it gets dark?
Photograph the patch where your towels were, with a ramada, a playground or the buoy line in the frame, and drop a pin while you stand on it. Then send it all on WhatsApp.
My daughter's gold chain broke at Slide Rock State Park and dropped into Oak Creek beside the slide. Could it still be in there?
It could be, and nobody can say more from a distance. Tell us which bank she was on and what she was level with. Photos of that run of creek help.
My dad's hearing aid fell out during a concert on the grass at Reid Park in Tucson, and we only noticed at home. Is that a lost cause?
No, but a small item needs a small area. Work out where you sat: which side of the stage, how far back, what was beside you. A photo from the evening beats a description.
Arizona
Send the put-in, the ramp or the park name on WhatsApp
Then what is missing, and the day it happened.
Say what it is, where and when: a lost ring in the shallows at Lake Pleasant, a phone off a tube on the Salt River, keys in the sand at Lake Havasu. We reply with what to photograph next.