Palm Canyon Road

Friday, January 16, 2015

Today is the day I get back to the boondocks.  Definitely have had enough with people for awhile. 

This morning, packed, hooked up the jeep and went to the top of the hill to the South Mesa and took care of the tanks and took on water.  Went back down the hill to where the propane tanks are and got that filled.  I am now ready to stay out for weeks.

At 11 am I headed east on hwy 24 toward hwy 95.  Seems that Castle Dome is always taunting me to go back and make it to the top next time.  Wonder if I ever will. 

Made a left turn onto hwy 95 and started my journey towards Quartzsite, Arizona, 60 miles north.  The road going both ways was very crowded with RVs.  I was thinking about going up King Road but as I was looking at all the RVs stopped at an ice cream shop, I whizzed right by it.

Poor old Yuma.  I put a towel on the passenger seat thinking he would love sitting there watching the world go by, but he just wandered around not sure where he wanted to be.  He laid between the two seats for awhile.  Then he would lay on the couch and then on the rug on the floor.  I am sure he will figure it out on a longer trip.  Today was only a short 50 mile one.  That’s good.  I didn’t want him to have to suffer a long trip his first time out.

Decided I would watch more carefully for Palm Canyon Road and take a look up it to see if I could find a nice place to stay.  I saw the sign and the road was just after the sign.  I started braking and all the RVs behind me started braking and I just barely slowed down enough to make the right turn onto the road without being rear ended.  Felt bad for having to slow so quickly, but they shouldn’t have been so close.  This road is 18 miles to the south of Quartzsite.

Anyway, I went about a mile and half up the road and found a very nice flat place all to myself.  Nothing real fancy, but it is secluded and quiet.  I didn’t want to go too far up the road because I wanted to be able to easily get on hwy 95 to Quartzsite tomorrow.  I figure the Q would be going hot and heavy on a beautiful warm Saturday.  May even be hoping tomorrow night.

Didn’t take me long to get my chair out and Yuma and I were resting in the beautiful 70 degree sunshine with the Palm Canyon behind us.  We are staying in the Kofa Mountains National Wildlife Refuge.

After a brief rest, I decided to take a walk and allow Yuma to go ahead without a leash.

Yuma’s first encounter with a large Barrel Cactus.  He barked at it and the hair on his back bristled and he slowly approached and sniffed it. 

He was wonderful.  He would just trot ahead for about 20 yards and then turn and wait for me to catch up.  This dog is one of a kind.  He and I are buddies forever.  Yuma will never run off.  We love each other too much.

Following are some photos of Palm Canyon and the Kofa Mountains east of my camp.

Beautiful sunset tonight.

See you later.