Sojourn to Palm Canyon

Hi Blog!  This post is out of chronological order.  During our stay in Quartzsite, we were boondocking (i.e. no electric, water or sewer).  We ran our generator for a few hours to re-charge our batteries, but that left us little time for surfing the internet and posted our blogs.  So, here is a catch-up blog about our trip to Palm Canyon on January 19, 2014.

We received a tip from our friends Connie and Karen, that a trip to Palm Canyon was definitely worth the trip.  Since our friends, Ginny and Eric, had spent the past couple of days driving us around in their Jeep, we felt is was time we returned the favor and gave them a ride in Great White.

The Palm Canyon Trail is located in the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge.  The trail is a moderately easy, half-mile trail that winds up toward the base of the canyon. This trail leads to a small sign on a slightly elevated area near the middle of the canyon.  We started our visit at the entrance kiosk where someone was kind enough to let us know we had arrived at Kofa:

We still had a ways to drive to make it to the trailhead.  We could see the mountains looming before us, but Great White was up for the climb.

Upon reaching the trailhead, Eric, Ginny and I went over to the hysterical markers to learn more about the canyon.

As we started the climb up, we turned to see Great White in the distance.  You've got to love the one lone cactus and the cinder cone.

Apparently, cactus like the solitary life.  Here is one hanging out on the side of a cliff.

Kathy did a little off-trail scrambling to check out an old camping spot - not quite a cave.  You can still see the black soot marks from the old camp fires.

Before long, we made it to the view spot.  If you click on the photo below, you can see the palms growing in a high canyon nestled between the two peaks.

These trees are California fan palms, not date bearing palms. These unique plants are probably the descendants of palms growing in this region during the last periods of North American glaciation. Some botanists theorize that the trees gradually spread into these canyons and other protected niches as the climate warmed to desert conditions. Other researchers have suggested that the trees may have been spread from other palm groves by birds or coyotes carrying seeds in their digestive tracts.  Here is a close up look.

Having reached our goal, it was time to turn around and head for lunch.  Hey, where did Kathy and Eric go - oh look - they are halfway down the trail.  I guess they're not going to be late for lunch.