Last nights full moon over the mountains (imagine there being mountains)
Today we
headed south out of Quartzsite toward Yuma to the Palm Canyon Trail in the Kofa
National Wildlife Refuge. The canyon trail is a popular tourist location in
that it may be the only place in Arizona to find native palm trees. The small
clusters of palm trees can be found in growing in the narrow side canyons where
direct sunshine is limited but some moisture is available.
Palm Canyon sits back seven miles from the highway on a dirt road. From the parking lot at the end of the road it’s a ½ mile trail into the narrow canyon.
The road heading in
Arriving at Palm Canyon
A look back
Heading on in
Entering the cool shade of the canyon
Despite the
heat of the day once in the canyon it is total shade and very comfortable. Sheer
cliffs on both sides hide the sun most of the day. The trail is easy to follow
but is rough most of the way due to large rocks and it has some steep sections.
Most of the palms can be spotted looking high up the side walls where narrow
side canyons receive sunlight. Very interesting and well worth the visit.
Saguaros are everywhere
A closer look
Looking back down the canyon
High in the side canyons
A cluster of Arizona's native Palms
This evening
we thought we would have supper in town. According to the local information we
had available the “only” place in town is the Yacht Club. Now what is a Yacht Club doing in the middle of the desert with no water to be found. An obvious
gimmick of course but the owners are doing quite well with it. They even sell a
membership for $30 and according to them they have the largest membership of
any Yacht Club in the US. So in we go
and find everyone ready for a St Patricks’ day celebration and the only menu
item of the day is corn beef and cabbage. Not being fans of the cuisine of the
day we stayed long enough for a beer and found another place for supper.
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