Kofa National Wildlife Refuge is located just south of Quartzsite, Arizona with access into the Refuge from State Route 95. Kofa stands for King of Arizona referring to a mine in that area. There is a population of Desert Bighorn Sheep that enjoy the very steep, jagged, and rocky terrain of the Refuge. It's a large area with 665,000 acres of pristine desert.
Our first night in the Refuge we camped a few miles off one of the entrance roads. There is no fee however there is a 14 day limit. We had come in rather late and we both felt we could find a better spot. We drove north to Palm Canyon, an area of the Refuge where native California Fan Palm Trees grow. One of the few places in Arizona that has actual native palm trees.
Can you see the palm trees?
We took the hike into the Canyon and saw the palm trees crammed into a narrow gully. It was amazing that they actually grew in that spot. We enjoyed the hike and it was good exercise for the dog. The mountains in Kofa are not particularly high but they are impressive looking. It is the perfect habitat for the Bighorn Sheep and there's supposed to be 400 to 800 living in the Refuge. (Although I'm sorry to say we didn't see any!)
Looking for the right spot to camp we studied the map and saw the old Mountain Telephone and Telegraph Road was just north of us. We found it although there was no road sign the telephone poles going into the Refuge was our clue. This road was less populated with campers and the first four to five miles is BLM land. We saw one or two other trailers and went in about 2.5 miles to find the right spot.
It was close to a wash, there were quite a few trees and shrubs and plenty of dead wood for camp fires. Both Mike and I uncovered Black Widow Spiders while picking up wood reminding us to use care! (What is it with us and spiders lately?)
One day at Kofa we did some landscape painting. Mike painted the Kofa skyline and I painted a scene from Empire Ranch. Kofa was the type of place that would get your creative juices flowing!
We visited Quartzsite while we were there, one time with Nick, Sally and Rosie! Quartzsite could best be described as one giant swap meet from one side of town to the other! We did some exploring and found people selling a little bit of everything. The biggest exhibitors were rock and gem collectors. We saw barrels and barrels of rocks and could not believe the enthusiasm for them.
This place had a carnival atmosphere when it came to food for sale. One trick is to not have prices posted for instance the man selling waffle ice cream cones. It was a warm day, it looked irresistible and as the man handed you the cone he said "that'll be seven dollars". (Mike got sucked into that one).
There were many people from the northern states and Canada camping near by. Long Term Visitor Areas are maintained by the BLM and offer four large campgrounds for minimal fees. Many "snowbirds" spend the winter here taking advantage of the warmer, dryer desert weather.
Quartzsite has some interesting history. Back in the 1850's, Jefferson Davis, who was Secretary of War, procured a herd of camels to open a wagon road across Arizona from Fort Defiance to California. The camels and their caretaker, Haiji Ali,(from Syria) came to reside in the Quartzsite area. The camel experiment was interrupted by the Civil War and the camels we're let loose to roam the desert and survived for many years. Haiji Ali, who became known as "Hi Jolly" by the troops, stayed in Quartzsite and died there in 1903.
During the time we stayed in Quartzsite, our dog, Kilo had become sick. He would not eat and was lethargic. We hoped it was nothing serious maybe just a 24 hour bug. He perked up some but still had low energy which is not the norm for a two year old dog. He had a few unusual symptoms, he kept his head down and the only way he would eat is if we raised his dish. A few days later we noticed a swelling on his neck. What the heck? It was plainly obvious just by looking at him. Then we remembered the Black Widow Spiders and how Kilo likes to pick up and chew on the fire wood. Perhaps an angry Black Widow had bitten Kilo out of spite for disturbing her habitat?
Well, Kilo was eating and drinking so we figured it was no emergency and we would keep our eye on it.
We began planning our exit from Kofa since we had a wedding to attend in California the next week. So glad we spent some time in this beautiful place!
No comments:
Post a Comment