Kofa Wildlife Refuge: Getting Away From Quartzsite Crowds

Going to Quartzsite this season? Sometimes the crowds are just plain oppressive. Need a little break? Not far south on Highway 95--the road to Yuma, is the Kofa Wildlife Refuge. A favorable boondocking spot is at Crystal Hill.

Crystal Hill was pretty popular among the rock hound set, as you could (and with persistence still can) find small crystal formations you can carry off. But more importantly, it's a relatively quiet place off the road, yet not too far from civilization. The refuge is home to desert bighorn sheep and the only place in Arizona where you can find native palm trees--the California fan palm.

The former have a tendency to roam around wherever it is that a sheep's fancy takes them; the latter are found in Palm Canyon--a short hike from the Palm Canyon trail head (clearly marked by signage on Highway 95). We've also been fascinated by rock formations like the one pictured here. This fellow surely reminds us of a bobcat getting ready to set about a little luncheon. Now some will tell you he's quite natural, but a local friend of ours tells us he results from the artistic efforts of Spanish explorers who carved him (and other formations) to point the way to gold mines and other hot spots.

You'll find the road to Crystal Hill between mileposts 95 and 96. Palm Canyon road is 18 miles south of Quartzsite, follow the dirt road to the trail head and thence hike from there--about a half mile. Best light is found around high noon.

Water Everywhere But in Your Rig?

Boondocking with your recreational vehicle has its great rewards. Wonderful scenery, quiet solitude, the constant search for water-- Whoa! That is one of the boondocking drawbacks--where do you get your water? In the one of the great winter boondocking Meccas, Quartzsite, RVers have been working that problem out for decades.

Like most boondockers, once we get our rig "settled in," we're not real inclined to want to move it again until it's time to leave. Packing up the rig once or twice a week to go for water just doesn't cut it. So we worked out our method: We obtained a 50 gallon plastic barrel, suitable for "food grade" purposes, and when it was time for a fresh water refill, put it on the back of the pickup and drove out to our water source. Perching the barrel on top of our truck bed toolbox, we filled it up, then drove carefully back home so as to not upset the barrel, and let a gravity siphon feed fill up the RV tank. If the trip is to scarey for you, then get yourself a 12 volt water pump and leave the barrel in the bed of the truck. Back "home," simply hook the pump up to the vehicle battery and pump your water into your RV.

Other options? Some RV suppliers sell a "roof top water bladder" that looks suspicioiusly like a large air mattress. The food-grade plastic bladder can be lain on top of your rig's roof, filled with water, and gravity fed back into the RV tank. Or, use a water pump. We met one RVer in Quartzsite who simply bought an "air bed" from the Walmart sporting good section, and after "sanitizing" it with bleach water and "freshening" it with soda water, skipped the high cost of the commercial water bladder. Not sure how safe the plastic is in this, but it is an option.

Others use plastic bottles and jugs, fill 'em up, and tote them back to their rig. We found, in a pinch in upstate New York that this works ok, albeit slowly. In our case we simply cut a 16" chunk of water hose, leaving the female end of the hose in place. We shoved the free end of the hose down in our water fill port, then using a hand to clamp the hose fitting onto the open mouth of a one gallon water jug, we could quickly empty the jug with very little spillage.

Quartzite bound this year? You can buy water barrels from the RV Pitstop on Highway 95, a few blocks north of the B-10 (Main Street).

Quartzsite Boondocker? An LTVA Warning

Boondockers by the thousands flock to Quartzsite, Arizona each year and camp out on public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management. But the BLM has done something you may find a bit dirty. Check out "Death, Taxes, and LTVAs" on our Quartzsite News Blog.