Boomerville: Palm Canyon

Hi Blog!

On Monday, January 25, 2016, we piled a bunch of Boomers into Great White and drove up to Palm Canyon. We needed a little break from all the shopping, roundtable discussions and Happy Hours that make up Boomerville. Here we are at the trailhead:

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 on the left near the middle of the canyon.  Onward and upward....

Thanks to the well place sign, we get our first glimpse of the historic palms.

These trees are California fan 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:

A few of the guys tried to scramble up the steep slope, but found the sheer rock face too difficult to scale in the time we had. After a number of photo ops, it was time to trek back to the truck. The Kofa Refuge spreads out before us.

On the way back down, we spotted a border patrol blimp hovering above the far hills. It was a little too far away to get a good photo, but this gives you the idea of how vast the wilderness area is.

As we worked our way back to the truck, we had to cross a number of washes. The trail split into a number of veins. Here Kathy leaves an arrow to point the way for the rest of the Boomers.

Great White stands out against the desert backdrop.

If you ever find yourself in the Quartzsite area, the trip to Palm Canyon is definitely worth it.