Palm Canyon, Mittry Lake, and California at Last!

Tuesday, February 4, 2014


Last Thursday we left our end of the road campsite at La Posa South in Quartzsite and joined the dump and water lines to prepare for more boondocking elsewhere. After a long wait and lots of fun checking out all the other interesting rigs coming and going, we drove south on highway 95 out of the circus of Quartzsite. We didn't have far to travel to reach Kofa National Wildlife Refuge, named after the King of Arizona Mine. After staring at the jagged peaks south of us for two weeks, it was time to explore them.

Palm Canyon cuts up the middle of this mountain formed by a fault-uplifted block of massive ryolite.

At the end of the washboarded road that we drove east off of 95, we arrived at the foot of the mountains and the trailhead for the Palm Canyon Trail. The sky was overcast and the wind steadily gusting as we climbed up into the canyon in search of the only native palm trees in Arizona. They were probably left in the more sheltered, moisture retaining crevices as the surrounding areas became deserts, thousands of years ago. We only had a half mile to scramble up the trail until we saw a group of 20 or so clustered way up in the canyon wall. On the way back down we spotted a few more in other crevices, but I think Greg was more intrigued by the many caves in the volcanic rock. He had to sit and contemplate the Big Picture for a while.
Driving back down from the canyon, we found a spot near the road and next to a wash, to boondock for the night. Greg took off to explore the nearby lava flows. Can't keep him home when there is new geology to explore! After the last few day trippers left the lightly used park, we were all alone in the desert. Except for the drones from the nearby Yuma Proving Ground. We could hear them, but never saw them, guess that's the point. Someone was training for desert warfare. I wonder how many times we and the rig were “virtually” bombed as we sat there. We'll never know...

The Palms were fairly big but WAY up the steep side canyon

View down the canyon and across the basin toward the Yuma Proving Ground

What's for dinner?

Cactus wren nest

View from our camp

We were sheltered from the wind by this 100-foot tall lava flow

Friday morning we drove the washboarded road back out to 95 and continued south to Yuma, AZ. Near the entrance to Yuma Proving Grounds, we stopped briefly for Greg to check out the historical exhibit of tanks and artillery. Forgive me for staying in the rig. Not my thing. Greg got a good fix of military history and we drove on to the entrance of the Mittry Lake Wildlife Preserve. Driving several miles along a canal that paralleled the Colorado River, the border between Arizona and California, we reached the lake and found a lakeside site. Another free camping area. No facilities, but a dumpster, so at least we didn't have to find a place in the outside bins to store the trash until we left.

YPG Artillery Museum

The dusty road along the lake was a bit busy, but the wind gusts were blowing the dust away from us, so we decided to stay. My thirsty eyes were so happy to see water! There were tall grasses swaying in the breeze, and palm trees almost in the water. The two lagoons next to our rig were full of coots, diving, and cackling. Farther out on the lake were other migratory ducks, and lots of herons and egrets.

View of our rig from the end of "our" fishing jetty

This is the crest and spillway of Laguna Dam that forms the lake. Not a dramatic dam, but it has served since 1908!

We had our first close-up of a coyote while we were sitting in the rig. Greg grabbed the camera and after it disappeared into the grasses by the lake, we stopped watching. Suddenly Greg said, “It just grabbed a coot and ran across the road!”. No wonder the ducks were so skittish when we sat near them on the edge of the lagoon.

Wiley Coyote hunting for coot

We stayed three nights here. Greg took some short bike rides. One day we decided to hike up to the top of the nearby “mountain” to see what was on the other side of the billboard-sized sign at the summit, that we could only see the back of from our site. Greg decided to scramble up the canyon instead of taking the rough dirt access road.. Okay, no whining so I wouldn't get sent back! We stopped along the way to check out the plants and geology and finally walked the last bit up a VERY steep road. Victory! Besides almost blowing off the summit in the wind, we discovered that the “billboard” was just painted silver metallic and there was some graffiti on it proposing marriage! Greg decided it had something to do with radar for the many F-16 jets flying over from the Yuma Proving Grounds. Whatever...

Creosote in bloom

The easy part of the climb

Its a little steep - But there are Rocks!

Nice quartz vein

Our destination

Ocotillo

Barrel Cactus

Air Force radar reflector?

The diversion canal tunnels under several ridges

Still climbing

Views from the top

Our rig in the middle right

Mittry Lake

Yesterday, Monday morning, we used up the last of our Quartzsite water with showers and took off for the drive into Yuma. We drove in the back way past many irrigated vegetable fields, with lots of lettuce being picked. Then into town where there are a huge amount of winter snowbirds. Yuma draws thousands during the winter because of its almost guaranteed hot, dry weather.

Picking Lettuce

The other draw is Los Algodones, Mexico, a safe border town that exists for Americans to visit for inexpensive dental, eye care, and prescriptions from well-trained Mexican doctors. Many RVing snowbirds and fulltimers use their services, and then avail themselves of the $1 fish and shrimp tacos!

We had planned to go to Los Algodones for lunch, but by the time we showered, stowed the rig, drove into town, and resupplied at WalMart, it was getting late. We are still camped close by, so hopefully we'll go another day. We drove onto I-8 heading west and crossed into California. At the Sidewinder Road exit we found a Shell station with a dump and water for $10. Another exit west was Ogilby Road and we drove north five miles until we reached American Girl Mine Road. We knew about this BLM area from reading other blogs, and drove east into the desert. Rigs are very spread out here, and after some driving around we found a very remote spot. We can see a few rigs off in the distance, but can't hear anything except an occasional train whistle, military jet, or a far off ATV.

Mine workings up the valley

Cool enough to enjoy the afternoon sun. The little knob in the background is a kyanite mine that shut down in 1940

Last night was quiet, and with no one around, we left all the blinds up and enjoyed the desert sky at night. Greg rode off on his bike to explore this morning. He texted me from the side of the hill of the mine, with a photo of the RV, and we could sort of wave at each other across the desert while we texted. Ah, the wonders of technology! Guess we'll stay a few nights and enjoy the mountains and desert before we get itchy feet and are ready to keep moving west toward the Salton Sea!