The Southwestern Sojourn - Day 18: Kofa National Wildlife Refuge: Palm Canyon and Uraling on the Old Yuma Road

Saturday, Dec 15.

By 10 AM it had warmed into to low 50s here in Quartzsite with a promise of a high of 71 degrees Fahrenheit.  So Scarlett and I headed out, first into town to gas up and then south on AZ Highway 95 for 18 miles to the Palm Canyon entrance to the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge.

It's six miles or so to the end of the road inside Palm Canyon and I counted 25 camper units of one size of another, no Class As but I saw spaces where even such large RVs would fit easily.

4G LTE was available each time I tested for it.

Since I'd done the hike to the top of Palm Canyon's trail and seen the Palm Trees in question last year; I instead hiked to the south side of the canyon but didn't really see much in the way of scenery.

Gearing back up, I took pictures as Scarlett and I rode away from the Canyon Walls and rock formations.

 The rocks and peaks that make up the outer 

walls of Palm Canyon

 Nearby peaks and hills with blue shadings

 More farther views of the rock formations which

make up and are near Palm Canyon

After leaving the Wildlife Refuge, I headed north on AZ Hwy 95 a few miles and pulled off the road to capture these images of nearby mountains:

 I love the pointy peaks on these mountains that

are within the Kofa Refuge

Next I drove Scarlett west on what is known as Old Yuma Road.  It crosses the small mountain range and you can reach I-10 again according to Google Maps.  I didn't take it all the way through though; it got pretty steep at times and I was running out of daylight.

 That's Cunningham Mountain with its telecom towers

 Heading back east towards AZ Hwy 95 and Quartzsite

I found and took a small detour which led me up a nearby hill, which turns out, is called Beer Hill by someone.  The last bit was steep and had to be attacked aggressively with the throttle to make it past a couple of small rock shelves.

I descended from Beer Hill with no issues, and got back on Old Yuma Road heading eastbound once more:

 One last look at Cunningham Mountain.

Got back to the La Posa South BLM campsite in time for the below sunset shot.

It wasn't much of a sunset at all as you can see, not a cloud within view of the camp.

A good day of trail riding by Scarlett, who did great.  Nice warm weather, sunny skies, a small breeze to keep things cool, it made for a great day of riding.

It's supposed to be the same tomorrow! 

The Southwestern Sojurn - Day 17: Fiery Sunrise and the Quartzsite Museum

Sunsetwx had forecasted good Sunrise conditions for this morning.  I woke even before my alarmat 6:15AM and leisurely made coffee while awaiting the pre-dawn color show.

I'm glad to report sunsetwx got this one right.

After work, with the weather remaining overcast and cool, I went to check out the Quartzsite Museum in town.  It's a little place, filled with your typical pioneer day and later paraphenalia of life in the southwest.

The building is the old stagecoach stop, now surrounded by a brick outer wall to protect the delicate dirt/mud walls.  You can see the original wall as you enter.

It's a neat museum but its obviously sustained by volunteers and visitor contributions so no flashy displays or exhibits.  I was there mainly to seek more on the US Army's brief dalliance with the use of camels as transportation animals back before the civil war.

The story is basically centered on the man who was hired to herd these unusual animals for the US Army of the time:  Philip Tedro was his name but he goes into history as Hi Jolly, the name he was known by.  More details here:  LINK

 I'm a fan of old time maps, note what they used

to call the area now known as Texas

 Camel Bells!

I guess stealth wasn't one of the objectives

 Camel-borne!

 Camel Saddle

 Hi Jolly's grave and monument at the

Hi Jolly Town Cemetery

I next explored the BLM area bordered by Dome Rock Road to the west of Quartzsite.  Pretty open spaces as well but with nearby hills and small mountains for scenery.  Decent 4G cellular signal was evident.

Returning to the La Posa South LTVA, I went past my usual turn to my campsite and kept going south on FR 0059 as it left the LTVA behind.

Several miles of dirt track later, I got slightly turned around and lost for a bit but finally oriented myself by finding Cunningham Mountain.  Keeping it on my left, I finally found the track back to the La Posa South LTVA with 30 minutes or so of daylight to spare!

The overcast skies prevented any kind of a sunset viewing; in spite of Sunsetwx's predictions for one.  Oh well, mustn't get to too greedy about such thiungs.  Another good sunrise is forecasted for tomorro morning, we shall see.

The Southwestern Sojourn - Day 16: Crystal Hill and Cunningham Mountain

Thursday, Dec 13.

Not much of a sunrise for today:

After work, I rode out to Crystal Hill, which is within the Kofa Wildlife Refuge Area to the south of Quartzsite, AZ.

The hill is known to "rockhounds" as a place to search for quartz crystals apparently, I did see many of such crystals but had no inclination to bring any home.

I took AZ Hwy 95 south for a few miles, and turned east at the turn for Crystal Hill.  After a few miles, you reach a welcome sign for the Kofa Wildlife Refuge and once past, you're in land where you can camp apparently.

I saw several truck campers and cars in the camping area at the base of what I thought was Crystal Hill.  Nice flat spots, good 4G LTE coverage, and it's free, what's not to like?  Sure, it's 9 miles from the highway on a dirt road with sometimes lots of loose rocks but doable if you take it slow.

I parked Scarlett and climbed to the top of what I thought was Crystal Hill, not a bad set of views from the top, here's the one I liked best:

 Nice view of an LTVA to the north of

Crystal Hill.

A view of the hills, the one on the left is

the one I climbed, the one on the right is

actually Crystal Hill!  Oh well.

I retraced my route back to the highway, along the way I stopped for a picture of Cunningham Mountain.  

 Teddybear Cholla near where I parked Scarlett

for the shot below:

 Cunningham Mountain, see the trail leading to it's base?

I could see a trail across the highway as I reached it, that seemed to lead to the base of Cunningham Mountain.  Of course, I had to find out!  A bit over 9km or almost 5 miles later, I was standing near the base of the mountain!  Nice road too.

Had some minor turns, some deep sand which caused me to get bogged down.  But, a quick engagement of 2WD and walking alongside the rig, I got her out of the loose stuff easily enough.

On the way back, I'd power on through that same patch of loose sand with 2WD with no issues.  Gotta love it.

Made it back to camp after going into Quartzsite to get some more groceries and gas for Scarlett.  Got UDF'ed by a Quebec resident driving an old Land Rover, I actually lusted over his truck for a bit while he peppered me with questions about the Ural.  Yves was his name, he's staying with his dog at the La Posa West LTVA nearby.

 The campsite I picked had this rock circle made by

previous campers I guess.  Some people must get pretty

bored at times just hanging out in the desert.

Tonight's sunset was completely cloudless so nothing to write home about if you know what I mean.  So I went for "artsy".

The Southwestern Sojourn - Day 14 & 15 Travel Days

Dec 11

Didn't do any riding, just broke camp and left the Gunsite Wash BLM area near Why AZ and headed north on AZ Hwy 85.

Filled up the propane tank (6.7 gal) in a gas station in Ajo, AZ and then just motored up to I-10 to head west towards Quartzsite.  I didn't go all the way there, as I decided to stop at a RV park called Snowbirds West, located to the north of the junction of I-10 and exit 69.  Not much else there, though apparently the area is named Centennial.

The RV park is very "rustic".  Nice pads but no electric hookup, no sewer hookups (though there is a dump location), but there was a water source at each pull-through spot.

One minor thing, no water.  At least none until they turned on the camp generator at 4PM through 6PM daily.  Then the water flowed and I filled up the fresh water tank, filtering the water through a water filter.

During the time the generator is running, you can also luxuriate in a hot shower that is included in the camping fee.  No coins required.

There was a washer/dryer available, sort of, there's a signup for its use and I was second, ended up delaying laundry day to another day.

The shower was nice though.  The weather was temperate and it was pleasant walking back to the URRV afterwards from the nearby shower building.

Mellow place, full of snow birds who stay there all winter.

Price was right for my campsite: $8.

Had a pretty good sunset, you'll not I didn't even bother unloading Scarlett from the trailer as I was just overnighting at this spot.

Dec 12

Broke camp and rolled out the RV park early and arrived at the La Posa South LTVA or Long Term Visitor Area for BLM camping.  Not exactly free though as you pay for access to dump stations, water, garbage dumpsters.  I paid the $40 for a 14 day stay.  You can stay September 15th to April 15th (a total of 7 months) for $180.

There's actually a lot of RVs in the area and even in my vicinity, just not that close as there's plenty of space to give each other room.

I'm not going to stay here the whole 14 days, I'm meeting up with Martha and Patrick on the 23rd in Las Vegas.  

Spent the rest of the day working and just relaxing.

Near sunset, I drove down AZ 95 south towards the Kofa Wildlife Refuge but stopped way short of its entrance to Palm Canyon.  

Instead, I found a forest road headed towards the hills and rock formations visible from the highway, to the east.

Somewhere near Crystal Hill

which I hope to explore a path to, tomorrow

Last bit of Sunset back at the La Posa South LTVA

Got back to the LTVA as it darkened and missed a turn or two to get back to my campsite but found it with no major issues.