JANUARY 2018 - MARCH 2018

TRAVEL TO QUARTZSITE, AZ - then returning through CA, OR and WA

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TRAVELOGUE # 3 - From YUMA, AZ to JOSHUA TREE NP, CA

Thursday January 25 - Friday February 2, 2018

Published March 26, 2018

After spending two weeks in the desert north of Quartzsite, I headed south to Yuma, after lots of hugs and goodbyes. The huge number of RV's that had showed up in Quartzsite were starting to disperse. I stayed at a Passport American park called Hidden Cove on the Colorado River. Kind of small and old, but full of lots of friendly people. I had stayed there before and it turned out the night I arrived they were doing a music jam and invited me to join them. The park is located next to some farmland and BLM land along the river. On the other side is a local park, the West Wetlands Park, a really nice park with a fishing pond, kid friendly play areas, and lots of trails. The location is perfect from my perspective - lots of places to walk where Sunna can run, access to WiFi, laundry, and people to jam with! I started out thinking I would stay there for 3 or 4 nights, and ended up staying a week. I drove into Yuma several times to meet some other RV friends for breakfast (lots of people stay in Yuma all winter). And I did some shopping and spent some time organizing my pantry closets with new shelves and some other interior touches. I had a lot of things to do for clients, so every day I did some computer work, too. So every day was full with walking, shopping, cleaning, working, home making, more walking, and another jam session with a BBQ down by the river.

One day I went to the Yuma Territorial Prison, now a state park. Interesting place on a bluff overlooking the river. Left Hidden Cove on Thursday Feb. 1, and headed west into California, destination Santa Barbara, by way of Joshua Tree National Park. On the way, we drove north by the Salton Sea, made a quick drive through the Slabs and Salvation Mountain, arriving at JT close to sunset. We found a place in the campground near the southern entrance, boon docking. It was cold and I used the furnace overnight and discovered in the morning I was completely out of propane. No coffee and a cold breakfast! We took our time driving through the park, it's a beautiful place with lots of unusual rock formations. It took most of the day to get to the northern entrance to the park and then we headed west. After several false tries, we filled up on propane and found a regional park for the night. More about that in the next travelogue...

 

First night in Yuma - wonderful sunset from the RV park.

Sunna coming out of the Colorado River. Notice that it's not very wide at this point, as it heads into Mexico. Below, BLM land for hiking and river access.

Large fields of broccoli - blooming. Must be for seeds... (sorry the photo below is fuzzy)

The West Wetlands Park - an absolutely beautiful place.

Above fishing pond - notice the mountains in the distance. The Yuma skyline is a series of mountains and signature rock formations.

The photo above is the beginning of a trail through the park, where many of trees are identified by a rock with their common name and scientific name. Desert plants are very different from what we know and love in the Pacific Northwest, but still beautiful and miraculous when you consider the harsh conditions in which they grow.

CASCALOTE

Fortunately, we didn't see any!

BLUE PALO VERDE

SMOKE TREE

HONEY MESQUITE

LEATHERLEAF ACACIA

PALO BREA

TEXAS EBONY

The prison operated from 1876 to 1909, opened while AZ was still a territory. From 1910 to 1914 it was used by the Yuma Union High School!!
(I'm sure there are lots of jokes about schools being like prisons...)
Actually, the high school was there temporarily as the school was being rebuilt due to fire. The County Hospital utilized the facilities from 1914 until 1923. In 1924, the Southern Pacific Railroad demolished the western one-third of Prison Hill to make way for the new tracks. The Veterans of Foreign Wars leased the guard's quarters in 1931 and used it as their clubhouse until 1960. Hobos, riding the trains in the 1920's and 1930's, stayed in the cells, and homeless families during the Great Depression lived in the cells. It became a state park in 1960.

This bridge is called "OCEAN TO OCEAN HIGHWAY" and I viewed it last year from Gateway Park (below, at the bottom of this hill) and also drove across it.
US-80, which later became I-80, originally crossed this bridge until a new one was built in 1956.

"The Ocean-to-Ocean Bridge was the first highway crossing of the Colorado River.
Its name derives from the fact that it was a critical link in one of the nation's first transcontinental highways.
It was built in 1914."

Mission St. Thomas, viewable from the Prison.

View to the north from the Prison, more wetlands of the Colorado River. What you see on the other side of the river is Paradise Casino. It's in Arizona, but is right on the border with California.

This is the "Portal" - the original main entrance to the prison. There's only a token section of the wall (on the right in photo).

This is the main guard tower, built on top of a huge water cistern.

Above: see how thick the walls were (the light colored cement on the right).

I'm sure they called this "the hole".

This was courtyard in a slightly newer section.

Above, another view of guard/water tower. Below, the prison cemetery.

Heading west in California, into the Imperial Sand Dunes.

I didn't see any tortoises, but loved the signs.

Beach Store - in the desert. Really? -- Sand Toy Capitol of the World. OK.

Obviously, lots of people love their dune toys! This was a hilltop staging/parking area.

Calipatria, CA - on the way to the Salton Sea and the Slabs. Picture water all the way up to the top of the flag below!

Salvation Mountain was a one-man project built over almost 30 years, now maintained by volunteers. Leonard Knight was the creator, he passed away a few years ago.

"Salvation Mountain is a literal man-made mountain 28 years in the making, covered in half a million gallons of latex paint. What started as a small monument made of dirt and painted cement became, over time, a sprawling adobe and hay-bale mountain complex, with peripheral structures made of telephone poles, tires, and car windows, as well as art cars and sculptures, all painted in a patchwork of stripes and color blocks of whatever paint was donated that week."

— Aaron Huey, National Geographic

I spent a lot of time here several years ago, so this was just passing through.

After leaving the Slabs, I headed east toward the southern entrance to Joshua Tree National Park.

Those are red peppers on the ground and citrus trees in the distance.

Sunset from Joshua Tree... parked on top of a hill. Photos below are all taken in the park.

This little guy looks like a hummingbird. Here are the species likely to be found in the Arizona desert (some might even be migrants from WA!)

Representative Sonoran Desert species:

Broad-billed Hummingbird (Cynanthus latirostris)
Black-chinned Hummingbird (Archilochus alexandri)
Anna’s Hummingbird (Calypte anna)
Costas Hummingbird (Calypte costae)
Rufous Hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus)

This Ocotillo plant is in full bloom - really special in the middle of the desert!

Above: Ocotillo Patch - the one in the foreground isn't blooming, but there were a lot of them in a small area.

Below Cholla Cactus Garden - these are known as "jumping cactus" because if you get anywhere near them, their barbs stick in your clothes, your skin, your hair!!

Silver Bell Mine.

After driving through all the wonderful rock formations, I noticed this snowy peak in the distance, probably the San Jacinto Mountains, southwest of JTNP.

This was one of the best formed mature Joshua Trees.

You may have noticed that I love to take pictures of rocks - and clouds - and sunsets - and, well, everything. Hope you enjoyed them too!!

                  -- Ann