It's a weathered metal sign - anchored firmly in a patch of desert barely a stone's throw from a trail in Greasewood Park.
Three words are welded onto the sign: "The Bartlett Way."
Joyce and Phil Preston came across the enigmatic posting while walking at the west-side park and wondered: Who put the sign there? What does it mean?
We wondered, too, after walking out for a look at the sign.
Alas, some things must remain a mystery - at least for the time being.
"I've asked people who have been around for a while with the department, and nobody seems to know what that sign is for," said Wayne Barnett, spokesman for the Tucson Parks and Recreation Department.
One guess, Barnett said, is that the sign was put up by somebody who once lived in the area. And, yes, one imagines that the family name might have been Bartlett. But Barnett said he was unable to confirm the speculation.
People are also reading…
The sign - in an area of the park bristling with ocotillos, cacti and desert trees - can be reached in a five-minute walk from West Speedway west of North Greasewood Road.
To get to the sign, begin walking up an old roadbed - now blocked to traffic by large boulders - near the intersection of Speedway and Saddlewood Ranch Drive. Follow the old road for a hundred yards or so and watch for the sign on the left at the point where the route splits at a "Y" junction.
If anyone knows the origin of the sign, please send an e-mail to the address below.
Contact reporter Doug Kreutz at dkreutz@azstarnet.com or at 573-4192.
