Boondocking near Ajo

After leaving Kofa, we went to the Imperial Dam Long Term Visitor Area (run by the Bureau of Land Management).  It is near Yuma but on the California side of the Colorado River.  We visited a couple of historic sites in Yuma (the old Territorial Prison Historic Park and the Quartermaster Depot Historic Park) and found them quite interesting.  Even more interesting is that at one time at Yuma the confluence of the Colorado and Gila Rivers could be over a mile wide at times.  The Quatermaster Depot was there because supplies could be sent from the coast of California south and then north through the Sea of Cortez and then up the Colorado by river boat.  I never thought of Yuma as a sea port, but, in effect, it was.  Until we started building dams which ended riverboat travel.  Today, the Colorado and Gila rivers are used for irrigation to the point that there is no longer enough water to even reach the sea.  It has been great for the supply of food items that come out of this region are a major source of food for both the US and Mexico but devastating to the natural flow of the river.

While the LTVA was nice enough, and it was still relatively rugged camping.  Our closest neighbor was about 50 yards away, but we thought the solitude of really boondocking was a desirable thing.  It helps to really see and enjoy this stark territory if you’re off by yourself; at least we think so.

One of the places we wanted to see on our trip to Arizona was the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument on the Arizona border.  These cacti are only found in the southern part of Arizona and the National Monument is considered to be at the northern end of the range for the plant.  There is a campground there, but we decided to go on BLM land and pick out a free camp site.  There are no services, and no fees.  Unless there are specific restrictions (such as staying away fromk watering holes), you can camp anyplace you can find a spot.  In government speak, this is called “dispersed camping”.  The best part is that the cost to stay there is free.  That is, unless you think about the taxes we all pay.  It’s at least some payback of that “investment”.

We got a later start than planned, and stopped at a roadside rest and spent some time looking at Google Earth to try to figure out where we wanted to camp.  Big combination of events that resulted in a big mistake.  We arrived at the cut off from Arizona 85 just about sundown.  We were driving west into the bright afterglow in the sky with only the headlights of the RV (not the best in any case) trying to pick out a spot where we could spend several nights.  And the speeds on the road at times were only about 3 miles per hour due to the severe washboarding of this dirt road.  We picked our way along “Scenic Drive” as the map and road sign said, but it was tough going.

We could see other RVs, in some cases maybe 100 yards off the road back in the creosote bush and cactus, but went about 4 miles before we finally found what we thought would work, at least for one night.  Before that we stopped several times and got out with flashlights to explore possible sites.  Some were too restricted by the small creosote bushes that populate the desert, others had too big of a dirt berm on the road to try to get over with the motorhome.  In hindsight, it would have been better to park at a wide place in the road and use the Jeep to explore site options.

[That would raise an interesting situation, however: I am not sure that DW (dear wife) would want to stay behind to mark the spot while I took the Jeep back to get the motorhome.  And, at least so far, she has shown a great reluctance about driving the motorhome so she couldn’t be the one to go back for it.  I guess we would have to leave a marker of some kind (maybe get the exact GPS coordinates) and return with the full rig.]

 A Forest of Cacti

The next day we did some looking, but decided that we were only staying here a few days and it wasn’t worth it to move to a different spot.  A big part of that was we really didn’t find any unoccupied sites that looked a whole let better than where we were.  One interesting site was a small cemetery out here in the middle of nowhere.  There was not an identification sign as to what it was, but there were many well maintained gravesites.  Most had simple white crosses but a few had granite headstones.  All seemed to be well cared for, but it was five miles of dirt road from the nearest highway.

We did see a number of four wheel desert vehicles (kind of like a dune buggy but factory made) running up and down the roads and a number of Jeeps.  We also saw motorhomes, fifth wheel trailers, and travel trailers parked at various places in the desert.  Others seem to enjoy boondocking as well.

The last day before leaving we noticed three Border Patrol vehicles on the roads around us.  We had not seen any before, so that was unusual.  That night we saw what we believe were two flares floating in the sky to the west.  We’re not sure, but it looked like Border Patrol was using them in an effort to police the area.  A bit scary, but nothing more happened.  There is a sign on entering that warns illegals and smugglers have been sighted in the area and to be cautious.  We were.

Near Ajo AZ

February 2017