Quartzsite, Arizona

Socializing Around Camp

Annually, we gather in Quartzsite (Q to most) partly for the RV Show, but mostly to meet with friends, eat, drink and be very merry. Campfires are lit most nights at happy hour, and are occasionally accompanied by dinner hosted by one or more participants. This year, once again, the Porters and Swains host quesadilla/margarita night, and the Dwyers host spaghetti night. Everyone chips in, but these couples' efforts and organization are yummily appreciated.

Most mornings, some of us girls go hiking, for the exercise and comraderie, not the scenery.

Our departure. Several people, mostly the men, fall to a bad cold virus. Brad is on the verge, and we leave while we can so he can spend the next few days in bed recuperating since we've run out of fresh water.

Brad Goes Jeeping

A couple of folks have jeeps, and several couples go to Dripping Springs, an old mine/ghost town. This road is too difficult for our truck's long wheel base, so the jeeps are necessary.

How to thread a needle - with 10 people telling you which way to turn your wheels and when. I opt to spend the day quietly at the trailer, although I unwisely use my spare time cleaning and doing laundry!

Brad inspecting a few remaining artifacts.

Swansea Jeep Trip

Another old copper mining town, Swansea is about 1.5 hours away from Q. We go with Barbara and Wayne, who insist on driving their jeep, although the road is a well graded gravel road, rough only for the last couple of miles, but one we could have easily done in our truck. This panorama shows the remains of the smelter on the right.

Only a few walls of the smelter are left standing. Most of the buildings have tumbled and only the foundations and a few brick walls remain around the town site.

Barbara at the processing plant's foundation.

Barbara, Wayne, me and Brad with the miner's cabins behind us. Someone is currently restoring these buildings.

For those of you who are astute, you may have noticed that I have updated our "States Visited" map. I have changed my criterion from "we've set foot or wheel to soil" to "we've explored this state and stayed in one or more locations". It's a more accurate depiction.

Mittry Lake and Yuma, Arizona

Do you know what I love most about Year 6 of our travels? Being familiar with the places we go - knowing where to camp, where to get supplies, and how to get around town. I love driving into Escalante or Page and just going directly to "our" camp spot without stopping at the BLM Office or Visitor Center to research where we can take our trailer. It's almost like going home, but in about 10 or 20 different cities in 5 or 6 different states. And it isn't boring going to these places where we've visited before; it's a comfort. Yuma is like that.

Yuma - "Winter Lettuce Capital"

Okay, tell me this doesn't look fabulous. An estimated 90% of the lettuce consumed in the United States in the winter is grown here. The city is lush with fields of, not only lettuce, but broccoli, cauliflower, and other unidentifiable leafy crops (I'm no farmer!).

There must be an ecological reason the rows are planted in alternating colours/species, and we're grateful for that because it's just so darn attractive.

Mittry Lake

As always, when we come to Yuma, we camp (boondock) at Mittry Lake just a few miles north of the city out in farm country. We love it here and luck out this year getting this coveted high spot with a view of the lake, Imperial Dam, and Yuma Proving Grounds, with the canal on the opposite side.

When we arrive, we are shocked to see that part of the area near the boat launch has been ravaged by fire. But life continues, and new growth is starting already.

This belted kingfisher's home must be nearby as we see him fishing in the canal many days. Many water birds make Mittry Lake home during the winter including egrets, herons, many species of ducks, terns and of course, American cootes. At night, we hear several owls calling across the steep, rocky hillsides.

Gathering of the Gunfighters

I am happy when I learn that the annual Gathering of the Gunfighters competition is this weekend. We attended a couple of years ago for our first time and thoroughly enjoyed it along with the tour of the Yuma Territorial Prison (of the movie "3:10 to Yuma" fame) where the competition is held. This year, I am not as impressed. I don't think anything has changed except it's never as exciting as the first time. I am reminded how the microphones rarely pick up the voices properly and when a train passes, which they do frequently and only a few hundred feet away, no one can hear anything. Groups compete by enacting a skit about the old west which ends in a gunfight. Fun, but needs some technical assistance.

Algodones, Mexico

Brad and Tom, smile! Friends from Hamilton have a house here in Yuma, and we arrange a day in Algodones, Mexico with them. Americans and Canadians come to this Mexican border town to purchase booze, prescriptions, eyeglasses and get dental work.

Tom, Brad, me and Bev - our reflections in a mirror zoomed in Of course, what's a day in Mexico without a margarita? Well, not much fun. So even I have one (or part of one). Lunch and drinks for all, then a stagger back across the border to our vehicles waiting on the American side. We do have a DD, and today, it's not me!

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Arizona and a Day Trip to Mexico

Ajo

Ajo is a little town about 30 miles north of the Mexican border in southwest Arizona. This is the lovely town square, which is built around the old train station. This Spanish Colonial structure encloses the square on three sides, and includes the Visitor Center (pictured here), shops, cafes, a grocery store, the post office and the library.

One of the beautiful churches, across from the town square.

We are lucky to be here while Christmas decorations are still hung in the square. The palm trees just give it that je ne sais quoi!

Originally, the town was founded because of the Cornelia copper mine worked in the early 1900s. The mine was closed in 1984, but the Visitor Center and the Museum both have wonderfully informative staff who are retirees of this very mine. And they both love to tell the stories. Well worth a visit if you're in the area.

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument - A Lesson on Cacti

This National Monument and UNESCO Biosphere Reserve just 15 miles south of Ajo extending to the Mexican border is the northern range of the Organ Pipe Cactus, pictured here.

Southwest Arizona is mainly Sonoran desert, and it's where you find the iconic Saguaro (sa-WAH-row) Cactus. We are lucky and have an amazing sky a few of the days we are here.

This Saguaro has "crested". No one knows why this happens, whether it's a genetic mutation, environmental, or some other cause. Cresting can happen to any cactus, and we only see this one out of thousands of cacti in the park.

This Saguaro is almost glowing in the sun. It's thousands of needles give it that fuzzy edge.

Inside the Saguaro are numerous straws that it uses to extract water from the ground and store for as long as it takes to the next rain, which could be many months or even years. The outside of a living cactus is like a hard sponge, and you can leave a finger depression on its skin much like a soft melon.

A Cholla (CHOY-yah) is not a cactus to be messed with. Its spikes are barbed and will stick to everything, including your skin, clothing or shoes. This year, probably because it's been a wet one, they are heavy with hanging fruit.

A type of Barrel Cactus in bloom.

Unfortunately, these signs are everywhere warning visitors about illegal activities in this area so close to the Mexican border. A similar sign hangs at the entrance to the BLM area where we are camped with many other RVers, however the presence of the Border Patrol Officers is highly visible. Following the death of an officer in the National Monument in 2002 (at the hands of drug runners), the number of officers was increased from about 60 to 500. There are checkpoints between the park and the town of Why near where we are camped, and north of Ajo as well. I have to admit, we feel quite safe here, but we always keep a watchful eye. The only thing you can't leave out at our campsite, we are told, is bicycles. These may be quickly stolen by illegal immigrants traveling the washes.

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument - the Senita Basin

A drive to South Puerto Blanco Road takes us to the Senita Basin where several hiking trails can be accessed. Here, the three columnar cacti of the park can be seen together - Saguaro, Organ Pipe and the Senita which is very much like the Organ Pipe, but with many more thorns on their tops giving them a bearded look, hence the nickname The Old Man Cactus.

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument - the Ajo Mountain Loop Drive

The arch in Arch Canyon. Actually, there are two, one above the other. Those are full size cacti up inside the arch. We don't climb up as it is getting late and we are on our way to catch the sunset.

An amazing sky frames this extremely tall, straight cactus. Brad is standing at the base. They look alike, don't they?

We have some jaw-dropping sunsets during our stay. This evening isn't as spectacular as others, but is the one we sit in the desert for half an hour waiting. Shortly before I take this photo, we watch three Harris' Hawks hunting together. I'm not sure if that type of collaboration is usual, or it is just a coincidence. Unfortunately, my photos are blurry as they are hand-held at dusk.

I can't decide between these two sunset photos, so you get both.

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument - Alamo Canyon

Alamo Canyon is a short one-mile hike. This is the remains of a home from the early 1900s, when a couple raised cattle here for about 30 years. It never ceases to astound me that someone once said "Hey, this looks like a great place to raise cattle". We see cattle, wild horses and burros out in the desert all the time, and I still don't understand how they exist on such dry, sparse vegetation. About a 1/4 mile past this dwelling is the corral and remains of a water pumping and trough system.

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument - the Puerto Blanco Loop Drive and Dripping Springs Hike

More spectacular Sonoran desert skies. And a crazy Saguaro to boot! The 37 mile loop drive on Puerto Blanco Road is stunningly beautiful in a vast, barren desert sort of way that we love.

Dripping Springs is reached by a short 1/2 mile trail. The pool is abuzz with bees, none of which bother us thankfully as the agressive Africanized bees can be found in Arizona.

From the spring it's a short but steep climb to the top of the ridge with views north towards Why (pictured here) and views south to Mexico.

Can't get enough of that sky! Another view from the ridge top.

Between Canada and the US, we enjoy a wide open view of each other's country. That is to say, you wouldn't know a political border existed unless you were at a border crossing. It's a very different story on this southern border. This is a vehicle fence - it is to prevent vehicles from crossing into the US. The cars you see here are on Highway 2 in Mexico. But how easy would it be for a Mexican to just walk over (or crawl under) this fence? Very easy, and it happens all the time. Much of the border is lined with a pedestrian fence which prevents any illegal crossing (some photos of the serious fence between California and Mexico in the Imperial Valley), but unfortunately also prevents large wildlife (bighorn sheep, mountain lions, etc.) from passing through which neither government wants to do; hence the vehicle fence allows wildlife to wander freely while deterring easy illegal travel into the US.

A Day in Puerto Peñasco (Rocky Point), Mexico

We've always been very hesitant about driving into Mexico. We've met so many people who drive their RVs down the Baja or mainland Mexico, but the thought scares us. We hear too many stories, and the media makes us paranoid. We are camped near Why along Highway 85 just before New Years, and the highway is very busy with American and Mexican traffic ripping up and down. So we figure, well, why not? If they all feel safe, why shouldn't we? Armed with our Mexican liability insurance (which is required to drive in Mexico), we make the 1.5 hour trek to Puerto Peñasco or Rocky Point on the Sea of Cortez. This sign simply means that the usual permit (basically a visitors' visa) is not required along this corridor since it is such a highly traveled tourist route.

Our first stop is El Pinacate Bisosphere Reserve, an area rife with volcanic calderas (which we don't see due to lack of time), a lava flow, and sand dunes which are among the largest in North America.

Relaxing on Las Conchas Beach (Shell Beach) for a picnic lunch and a break after the drive down. This area just south of the main town has numerous low-rise condos and private homes lining the beach. Most of the vehicles here have California plates.

El Malecón in the Old Port. Shops, bars and restaurants line the streets here and finding a parking spot may require you to drive the one-way route a few times around.

Walking along El Malecón. Note how rocky the beach is here, since we are at the point. Hard to see in this small photo, but the yellow and blue building on top of the hill (top centre of the photo) is La Casa del Capitan, the restaurant with the best view in the city where we have an early dinner.

A fishing vessel heading out. Many visitors come just for the seafood, and I must say that our dinners are spectacular. Brad has the shrimp (best he's ever had) and I, who don't like seafood, have the garlic flounder, and it is to die for. All in all, a great day and we're glad we put aside our fears and brave the drive.