Hannah the hiker

For Christmas this year I was not set on spending a fortune to fly home so I decided to go camping with Cash instead. I was hoping that since it was a major holiday that there would not be a bunch of people out camping. I was pleasantly surprised to find that this was not the case!

After my first semester of teaching under my belt I desperately needed some time outdoors to relax and decompress. I decided to stay relatively close to home and stay within the state. I had been wanting to check out Kofa National Wildlife Refuge in Yuma so I decided to head there. This refuge was established as Public Lands in 1939. It’s name is an acronym for a gold mine that was in the area, King of Arizona. It was also first established to protect Bighorn sheep in the area. To get to the refuge I drove through Quartzite which is apparently the mecca for nomads in the U.S. Thousands of people travel here in their rvs, vans, cars, etc. to spend winter away from the cold. There are several campgrounds, rv parks, and plenty of BLM land for people here. I was surprised to see so many vans and such as I drove through but when I started writing this post I did some research and quickly found out that this town is a destination for people in the winter. I can see why now.

There are a couple of dirt roads that lead to some amazing hiking in the area, and spots for scenic camping. I decided to head for one of the more popular roads, Palm Canyon Road. This road is about 7 miles long and the first half is BLM land. That first half has a bunch of cleared spots for camping, almost a bit of a free for all. The second half is part of the refuge and camping is only allowed within 100 feet of the road at established sites.

We got to the road after sunset on Tuesday night so I only drove down the road about a mile before finding a spot to pull of and park for the night. There were quite a few cars that came in after me, and rigs parked around us. As I was setting up camp I did not get the chance to see the mountains around us, but I did enjoy watching the stars that night.

In the morning I woke up to some light rain but great views of the Kofa mountains. I decided to continue on down the road, going as far as Scout could take us. Pretty quickly I realized that the entire 7 miles of road was passable in the car, I just had to find a camp spot I liked! I wanted to get pretty close to the mountains, and I succeeded in that. I found a great spot just a mile from the end of the road. I pulled off the road and scouted out the site.

I counted at least 20 rigs on my drive from the beginning of the road to my campsite. From my campsite to the end of the road there were about 7 more rigs. I saw a variety of suv car campers, vans, rvs, trucks, and school buses. I love to watch videos of people converting their cars or vans for life on the road, so it was cool to see some “out in the wild.”

From my campsite I was about a mile walk from the Palm Canyon trailhead. We packed up a bag with some snacks and headed for the trailhead. There was a trail that went to the left of the trailhead that seemed interesting so we went that way and walked a couple of miles. The trail was rocky with some dirt, and lined with Cholla cactus. Cash and I walked a while then found a spot to rest free of cactus needles. I gave him some water and cut up an apple for us to share. Cash took a little nap in the sun and I rested my feet while enjoying the view of the mountains around us. It was so beautiful, I probably could have laid there enjoying the view for hours. But, Cash got antsy so we decided to walk back. On the way back Cash unfortunately encountered some cactus needles. I was able to pull them out, but it did scare both of us into watching where we were stepping more!

That night I enjoyed the sunset and had a dinner of knorrs creamy garlic pasta and hot apple cider! I never set up my tent for this trip as it was very rocky ground, so after sunset Cash and I retired to the back seat of my car. I had cell service so I made a couple of Christmas eve phone calls with family. I even had my battery powered lights on in the car to feel festive.

The next morning was Christmas. I celebrated by taking out the cannolis I packed for the trip and making some coffee to enjoy the morning sun. It was so warm out that morning, I was able to stay in my Christmas pjs for a couple of hours! Cash and I also opened our gifts from Conner which was a nice treat. It was a slow morning. I did some water color painting of my view as well which was relaxing. I am definitely learning more about water color the more I practice it.

That afternoon Cash and I headed back up to the canyon for some hiking. Palm Canyon is aptly named because it is home to the only palm trees that are native to Arizona. There are so many palm trees in Phoenix it is hard to believe that they are not native here! The trail is about a mile or so long and leads you to a viewpoint to see the trees in the canyon.

Unfortunately, I did not plan well and Cash and I did not end up seeing the palm trees. On our way to the trailhead there was a van camping on the road that we passed by. Their dogs were not leashed well and one of the dogs charged at us. It took the owner a minute to get a hold of their dog but it was a frightening couple of minutes as I was trying to walk away with Cash trying to protect us and this random dog not taking a hint. It made me pretty angry and definitely spooked Cash. So after that I was not keen on staying out super long just in case the dog wanted a round two. I also forgot to bring my headlamp on the walk and realized if we kept hiking to see the trees we would be navigating our way back in the dark, which is not my favorite. Andddd, Cash’s paws were getting a bit sore with all of the jagged rock. So that will just be a hike for the next time we go back. Even though we did not see the trees I did enjoy walking into the canyon with the steep cliffs surrounding us and all the interesting rocks around us.

That night I made some bean and cheese burritos and enjoyed Cracker Jack as a dessert.

The next morning I decided that we would head back home as I only had about 32 ounces of water left in my water container. There was also quite a bit more traffic on the road as it was a Friday. I saw at least 15 rigs in a 3 hour time span. So it was not much of a quiet secluded site anymore.

Cash and I relaxed in the warm sun and did some small walks around our site. I also took the nice weather and time to unpack my car and organize things. It probably looked like I was hosting a garage sale. Then I loaded up the car and headed back east to Phoenix.

I was sad to leave my campsite but I know I will be back again soon as there are amazing sites and fantastic hiking available there. Maybe next time I’ll even see some Bighorn Sheep! It was a great way to spend Christmas in my opinion. I have always wanted to have a camping holiday and I am glad I made it happen this year.

Here are some of the photos I took!