Day 8 Arizona West RV Park Yuma, Arizona

Our journey today began at the Palm Canyon Trail in Kofa.

From the parking area, there is a half mile trail up into the canyon.

The trail leads to a narrow rugged canyon where you can see the fan palms growing. This is a cluster of about 40 palm trees that have managed to survive in this harsh desert climate. This canyon allows the trees the perfect amount of moisture and sunshine. It is ecologically and biologically significant. For us though, this walk was not about the palm trees but more about the beauty of the canyon. My heart felt full as I made my way up through the rock formations. We took a lot of pictures…trying to convey just how special this was…the rugged peaks high above us, the surrounding mountaintops, the desert far below…this was an outstanding hike.

We had our lunch and decided to drive into Quartzsite. We wanted to see what the buzz was about and we needed to refuel the Jeep so that we could continue our ride. Quartzsite is the largest area for dry camping in the United States. You can come and park your rig in the desert and live there for free. There are a lot of area businesses that cater to the RVer’s. We saw signs for the RV Proctologist…he will come and take care of your holding tanks. This place was a carnival! There were all kinds of people selling all kinds of things from their RV’s and tents. It was a kind of giant swap meet. It is hard to put into words or pictures…

With a tank full of gas and cold drinks, we headed back to Kofa. We wanted to cook dinner in the desert, watch the sunset, and stargaze.

We stood then watching the stars pop out until we could see the Milky Way…simply beautiful!! Of course now it was very dark in the desert and we had to use 4WD to get out…such fun! We were hoping to see the animals begin to emerge. We saw about a dozen jackrabbits.

Today was an amazing day!