Sunday, January 29, 2006
Tyson Wash, La Posa South LTVA Camping Area, Quartzsite, AZ - Jan 16-29
After installing the new batteries and testing them out in Wellton (while we still had electric hookups to fall back on if anything was wrong) we headed for the boondocking areas near Quartzsite. At this time of year, Quartzsite swells from its regular population of 3300 to several hundred thousand, most of the increase being RVers.
There are many swap meets (junk sales mostly, some of which is worse than in most peoples' basements!), RV shows, gem & mineral shows and a rock & roll car show. While we were there they had several of the biggest swap meets and the main RV show. Willie is the main one who wants to go shopping at these places, but Doug goes along and enjoys it, too. Often it's not worth the hassle of the crowds and traffic to see (and sometimes buy!) so much stuff you have no use for.
We chose one of the Long Term Visitor Areas, which have potable water, Dumpsters and (usually) a dump station. Permits are required but are relatively cheap: you can either pay for up to two weeks ($30) or up to seven months ($140). These fees are reportedly going up to $40 and $170 in the next year or so. Still, a pretty good bargain, although the lines for the few dump stations can be fairly daunting. There are several of these around Quartzsite, Yuma and Blythe(CA), which allow you to use the same permit. There are also free 14-day BLM areas, where you get no amenities. You then buy water in town and take your trash to the dump. Honey wagons will pump out your tanks for a fee of about $20 or you can visit a place with an RV dump. There are also quite a few RV parks in Quartzsite, which are often full. Tyson Wash LTVA is suitably far from Quartzsite and therefore not very crowded, so we were able to enjoy relative solitude, depending on how many from our group were actually there at various times during the two-week period. One of the main reasons to come to Quartzsite is to meet up with friends (old & new) and relax in the relative warmth of the desert. The area we camped in was quite scenic but also fairly cold for the first week. The second week it warmed up, and we were able to enjoy being outside a lot more. We also enjoyed many potlucks and campfires with our group.
We enjoyed hiking on the Palm Canyon trail in the Kofa Natl Wildlife Refuge. The trailhead is located about 18 miles south of Quartzsite, and it is an easy 2-mile round trip hike. At the end of the trail, visible up a small side canyon, is a small cluster of native palm trees. These trees, California Fan Palms, are unusual in the desert, and their survival is dependent on the micro-climate in the protected canyon.Getting mail at Quartzsite usually requires standing in line for two hours along with hundreds of other RVers trying to get their mail. To avoid this, we decided to have our mail sent to general delivery in Blythe, CA, about 20 miles west of Quartzsite. This turned out to be a mistake, since it took so long to get through Quartzsite (high volume of tourist traffic) that we may as well have just waited in line in Quartzsite and saved the gas! Also, in our case it would have been better, since all our mail wasn't there the first time, so we had to return to Blythe a second time. Once is okay, since there is a "real" grocery store in Blythe, and it was good to be able to stock up on groceries. The second time to Blythe, we decided to turn it into a trip to do laundry and a scenic outing. We left early in the day and were done with laundry, successfully getting mail, and excellent breakfast burritos at La Paloma Cafe before noon.
We then headed north to the Blythe intaglios, about 15 miles north of Blythe on US 95. Intaglios are large (~30 ft long) human, animal and geometric figures on the ground surface, sometimes called geoglyphics. They are one of the few unsolved mysteries of modern archeology, since they cannot be dated and little is known of their creation. They are best seen from the air (indeed, they were first discovered by plane), but you can get a fairly good view from the ground. There are other of these figures scattered throughout the region. Their locations are not always made public in order to discourage vandalism. The Blythe figures are fenced in an attempt to better protect them. Most experts believe that these figures are thousands of years old, but no one knows for sure.# posted by Doug and Willie @ 9:45 PM 
