Greetings From Quartzite, Land of Lots of Rocks!!!

Monday, November 18, 2013

We really, really like this place! This is our third visit to Quartzite this year. The first was last January as we headed west to Death Valley. It was the scene of our first true boondocking experience at the Plomosa Road BLM boondocking site. We survived that night, totally self-contained and declared ourselves no longer boondocking virgins! We stopped again for a night on our way back east in March, and stayed at the Dome Rock Road site. Liking that location much better, we would have stayed longer, but bad weather was chasing us on, and we needed to keep going to avoid snow in the Tuscon area.

This visit we intend to stay longer and will be back in January for a View-Navion rally, which is going to be a gathering of a group of owners that travel in the same Winnebago RV that we do. That will take place during the famous, (to Rver's), annual gathering when 100,000's of thousands of RVer's converge on Quartzite for rock and mineral shows, RV shows, craft festivals, concerts, food, merriment, and flea markets. Most people boondock around the tiny town in various BLM areas. Vendors in town provide water and dumping, as well as the larger BLM areas that charge a small fee to camp there. Our new -to- us group will convene in the La Posa South campground where we will pay $40 for a 14 day stay. Don't know if we'll stay that long, the population pressure may get to us sooner!

Saturday morning we left Lake Havasu City in the midst of wind and dust that kicked up the night before. We stopped again at Crazy Horse RV Park, did the necessary housekeeping and drove south along the Colorado River which afforded us glimpses of California on the other side. We decided not to cross over since we'll go to Southern California after Christmas in Florida with Greg's Dad. For now we need to concentrate on slowly working our way back to the Southeast. This is going to be the winter for lots of back and forth!

Moonrise at our BLM camp north of Lake Havasu

Lake Havasu and lots of dust!

Bill Williams Wetlands Preserve

RV Parks, marinas, and vacation homes near Parker Dam

RV Park on the California side of the Colorado below Lake Havasu

After a stop along the Colorado to eat lunch, we drove east out of Parker and then south to Quartzite, which is just 10 miles east of the California border and along I-10, the major east-west route for the Southwest. We drove around town to locate water and dump facilities and gawk. Even in November there are vendors and flea markets. We drove past the store owned by Paul, the naked bookseller. He is a Quartzite legend who runs his bookstore dressed in a hat, a jacket and a thong!

After checking out the La Posa site to get an idea of what to expect in January, we returned to Dome Rock Road and picked out a spot a few hundred yards from last winter's site. This area is along the interstate, but far enough away for the traffic to just be a low hum. It's actually pretty amazing to watch from a distance, the huge amount of trucks and commerce plying their way out to LA and San Diego and back again. So, we are sitting in the middle of the desert ringed by rough volcanic ridges. At night we can see the lights of Quartzite slightly below us in the valley, while the orange moon rises directly out of the ridge behind it. The full moon is so bright that we can see the silhouettes of the mountain ridges 15-20 miles away. With no one close to us we have been leaving the blinds up, even at night, to enjoy the view!

Our camp at Dome Rock BLM. I-10 is 3 or 4 miles behind us

This is the antidote to the crowded campgrounds at Grand Canyon.

Granite Mountain in the middle distance

Sometimes the loudest noise out here is the humming birds stopping by to see if we have put up a feeder yet. They have learned that RVs often have treats.

The "personal-size" volcanoes have cooked the limestones and sandstones around them. Prospectors are still digging around them for gold and silver. Greg found some nice Talc and Arsenopyrite, but nothing valuable.

Greg has been getting back on his bike and exploring the old mining roads that criss-cross this area. Yesterday afternoon we took a walk to explore closer in. The washes are full of interesting vegetation that can survive during the mostly dry weather here. There is evidence of jackrabbits, mule deer, and snakes. There are a few birds around. Two Gambel's Quail did a quick two step through our site today. Greg found a dead tarantula on his bike explorations. Today we sat outside, very still, and watched the lizards creep and dash past us.

Greg demonstrating safe snake handling

Beautiful light right before sunset. Once the sun goes behind the mountain, it gets cold in seconds.

This Quail needs to learn a musical song rather than a pitiful whine!

We are back in the land of the Saguaro cactus, as well as ocotillos and chollas. Palo Verde and a few cottonwood trees occupy the washes. Most notable to Greg are the ROCKS, everywhere. Our campsite is rocks, our view is rocks, the roads are rocks. We eat dinner looking out the window at Granite Mountain, and there is quartz everywhere! Big white chunks with a rusty design on them. Also, lots of volcanic rocks, black, grey, rusty red, maroon, and green. Greg's bike rides take longer because he repeatedly has to put the bike down and scramble up to look at abandoned mine workings and test trenches.

Saguaros everywhere we look

I dare you to Touch It!

Saguaros are apparently delicious and a good place to live

Other shrubs are managing to flower

Cholla are NOT soft and fuzzy

Look, I found a rock!

BLM cages to keep idiot geologists out of abandoned mine shafts

We had planned to leave tomorrow, but Greg wants more bike time, we are still ironing out details for the sale of the condo and have really good connections here near the interstate. So instead of showers this afternoon, we are conserving water for a longer stay. Greg did an outdoor sponge bath with the rest of the water in his bike bottles, so, I guess that will do for now!

According to our map, somewhere near here is a 46-armed Saguaro cactus, so I guess we can stick around longer to look for it. Haven't found it yet! Suppose it wouldn't hurt to see another great moonrise over Quartzite!