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!