Last Day in Quartzite area

 I spent my last full day of boondocking in the BLM's La Posa South LTVA working on paperwork for an upcoming task.

As with the last few days here, the weather was sunny and warm and quite nice in the shade. The crowds weren't too bad though I imagine they will get worse and worse ass December and January come along and the peak season arrives. 

In the afternoon, during the golden hour, I rode Yagi my TW200 for one last circuit of the area; this time capturing the cacti that were picturesque.  There's many saguaro type cacti around but a lot of them are in pretty bad shape. 

Alas, it's time to leave this area and continue eastward.  I plan on being in the Elephant Butte area in New Mexico this weekend.

Tomorrow is time for a dumping of tanks, a grocery run and a return of an unneeded item to Amazon.  It'll be Veterans Day, so happy Veterans Day to all my fellow Vets.  I'll be stopping in the Picacho Peak area NW of Tucson for a couple of nights.

From Elephant Butte, once I leave, it'll be a two day drive back to Colorado and home, assuming snow doesn't delay me at Raton Pass.  Assuming her flight isn't cancelled because of the government shutdown, Martha is going to be joining me early next week for the drive back to Colorado.  

Tonight's sunset wasn't too bad:

More Rock Art from Quartzsite

 The weather continues to be sunny and warm, not too hot so long as one is in the shade of course.

Here's some more rock art that I saw during a previous ride into the Magic Circle area nearby. It's very small artwork,  so they didn't show up in my review of Google satellite imagery for me to follow up on.  

Ankh Symbol 

Scorpion 

Om Symbol 

Sunday, November 9

I drove the CRV north of the town of Quartzite Alignment marker used by pilot in the early 1940s to orient onto the town of Quartzite.

Easy drive and short walk puts you right at the letters.  Tried but really only way to fully appreciate the marker if from overhead.

Here's a YouTube video that shows it quite clearly:

A little further up the paved Plomosa Road, it's another slightly longer walk to the Bouseman Fisherman Geoglyph.

Again, being overhead is best, but I think you can make out the figure of the fisherman in my pics below.

Here's another YouTube video showing you a much better view of the geoglyph.

Slightly windier today but still nice and warm.  I'm debating whether to stay a few more days or move eastward....

Still at Quartzsite

Wednesday, November 5

I spent some of the morning unbending parts of the CRV's underside cover which had gotten slightly hung up on a rock.  My fault, I was moving the car around the new campsite and not paying attention as I should have been. Oh well, a replacement panel is in the car's future once I get back home.   The underside covers did their job and nothing was damaged.

I also went and refilled two of my six gallon spare water cans.  The accumulator tubing issue the RV experienced this past Saturday had almost drained the fresh water tank before I caught it   I missed turning the pump off prior to driving.

One of the more unusual campsites:

I also got rid of a bag of trash after getting water.  Services such as water, trash and RV dump remain available in spite of the current government shutdown.  There's no one at the fee station to pay the $40 for 14 day fee to in this Long Term Visitor Area (LTVA).  I tried several times to pay for the permit via rec.gov but it wouldn't let me enter a start date and so, wouldn't process the permit..  Oh Well.

This matches what I encountered in the Death Valley NP.  No entrance fees being collected.

The rest of the day was spent hanging out at the campsite, finishing yet another audiobook and enjoying the new site and it's solitude. 

Wednesday sunset it was pretty good: 

Thursday, November 6

Still here near Quartzite, the warm and only hot for a couple of hours during the day weather and the relative solitude of the campsite have me thinking about staying on through the weekend. 

Today's sunrise:

No chores, no repairs, just relaxing along with a short ride down some rather ho-hum dirt trails.

Friday, November 7

This morning I drove the CRV to check out nearby Dome Rock aka Sugarloaf Peak.  Its located on BLM and there's lots of open spots for dispersed camping here as well.

I parked near the base of the hill and walked the mile or so up the trail to the carved out platform near the top.  You can see the "platform" at the end of the trail.

The trail was very eroded and the BLM had apparently recently laid down a fresh layer up rocks, ankle turner size rocks, and the going was slow in order to prevent a fall. 

I was only beginning to build up a sweat by the time I reach the platform so not too bad of a hike.

The views from the flat area carved out of the hill, the altitude gain was only 200 feet.

I got back down fine, just had to go slow to make sure the ankle turners didn't get me.

I next drove into town on a fruitless search for a a spatula (melted the one I got recently) and sugar cubes for my morning coffee.  Gassed up the CRV for $2.82 a gallon which was nice.

Upon returning to the LTVA, I stopped at the fee office and confirmed that no fees are being taken due to the give shutdown:

I plan on being here through the weekend and then head over to the Buenos Aires NWR for a few days I think.

A Quick Displacement and Magic Circle Rock Art

Last night, there was some kind of a band or at least a bunch of high power sound equipment playing crappy music. I don't know if it was some kind of public event, but I was surprised since it's in the middle of BLM land. 

Regardless, my sound canceling headphones were used and all was fine. However today after lunch, I decided to do a quick displacement further away from the noise source whatever it was. 

In the late afternoon, I rode Yagi to the nearby BLM area Known as the Magic Circle.  Perusing satellite/posted imagery shown by Google had drawn my attention to some rock art in this area. 

The area in question, is also a BLM sanctioned clothing optional camping area.

As I rode to the rock art, stopping frequently to consult Google maps since there was no routing information, I eventually found the rock art sites. 

Yes, there were people enjoying the clothing optional status of the place, they would wave as I rode by so it was all good. 

Sadly, the first site's rock art had been destroyed to the point the below formations were not recognizable. Some idiot had actually driven their vehicle through it.  My guess is some fool that couldn't plan his way out of a paper bag had arrived in the dark and destroyed the rock art while parking is rig.

Fortunately, the next side was pretty intact:

Thunderbird 

Magic Circle Labyrinth

Kokopelli Figure 

Om Symbol 

Bear Prints?

Further on from the above site, I'd seen a Ying and Yang symbol:

Finally, there was another rock art site.  Not as cool or artsy as the first two sites.

The circle of rocks was labeled as the Magic Circle, here's the various items within the circle:

Compass Rose

A couple more I didn't include the first time:

As the sun was setting, I made it back to camp for a cloudless sky sunset pictures: