Kofa National Wildlife Refuge -- King Valley Road

(Clicking on the pictures will open them larger in a new window.)

Monday, March 27, 2017

I was up waiting for the sunrise this morning. After reading there was a high wind advisory for Tuesday, which was the day we had planned on moving down to Yuma, I had a feeling when we had a chance to discuss our choices in the morning we would be moving someplace close by sometime on Monday for a couple of nights. (Tom was already sleeping when I checked the weather and since, there was nothing we could do to change it, it did not seem necessary to wake him up to talk about it.) Anyway, I did not want to miss our last sunrise parked in La Posa South.

We wanted to use the dump and fill up with fresh water before our two week pass expired; plus, Tom needed to go into Quartzsite to fill up the diesel tank before we headed down towards Yuma. Since, he did not relish doing any of this in the wind, when we got back from a ride over into the refuge, we packed up, Tom drove over and dumped, filled up our fresh water tank, then drove into Quartzsite and filled the diesel tank. In the meantime I drove over to the Roadrunner BLM to look for a spot to call home with the Stinger B for a couple of days.

Stepping outside the first thing I saw was the beautiful color
to the west.

The sun making its beautiful golden appearance.

The Stinger B in the morning sun.

The long lovely shadows across the desert floor.

Sitting in my chair savoring this time as the sun slowly rises
and the floor of the desert lights up.

After finishing our coffee and eating breakfast we headed over to the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge, King Valley Road to be exact. Tom had noticed a couple of mines listed on the map and they were just off of the main road, which is listed as an any high clearance vehicle road, so it looked like an easy ride. We were right it was.

The Stone Cabin is just South of King Valley Road.

We have been on several "Rough Roads" in the refuge.
This is the first time we have seen a sign informing us of the fact.

The first views as we drove down the road.

(I am going to be honest, I am not sure if I have all of today's pictures in the correct order of when we saw things. I decided to put some of the same type of pictures together today because I was not sure. So I am guessing the pictures are fairly close to the ride but not exact.)

These flowers were so pretty. They looked paper thin
and iridescent..

It was almost like the yellow arrow said around the
corner to the beautiful yellow colors.

Then things changed for a bit.
With the creosote bushes covering the landscape
with their bright small yellow flowers.

Not long after the left turn at the 00 Junction we came to a closed area that is set aside for the Pronghorns.

We could see this patch of dirty white from a distance
not sure what it is.

A little off to the right in the center what looks like a little white
 dash is a building. From the information on the map we have
it is the King of Arizona Mine.

Just past the picture above we turned onto a 4 wheel drive road and the three pictures below are what we could see from the road of the mine. At this point there was a sign telling us to stay on the designated roads. There were also signs telling us whether the road was a designated road or not. We also encountered two Fish and Wildlife Officers on the road who informed us there was another mine further on but it was on private property. They also mentioned it is best not to get to close to abandoned mines as they can be dangerous. After our little talk, the two people in the other vehicle never smiled (though they did wave when they passed us a little while later), we decided we had seen enough so we turned back and started our way back out to AZ 95.

More pictures of the King Valley Road. 

There are boondocking areas off of this road and we could see where people had parked. We saw a small travel trailer parked and passed one going in. The road is rocky in spots and Tom thought the Stinger B would make it in a couple of miles but not as far as the smaller ones we saw.  Of course, we would want to unhook and explore the road before we attempted it in the future and would recommend that to anyone; desert roads, as everyone is aware, can change quickly. Being surrounded by the Kofa Mountains, the Tank Mountains, and the Castle Dome Mountains would make for a pretty great patio view. Plus, of course, the desert plant life is abundant.

Looking down one of  the washes.

More of the views.

I know I have mentioned before that my favorite desert plant is the Ocotillo. So many of the ones we saw had bloomed and were tipped in bright deep orange. (I wish the color showed up better in the pictures.)

We even saw little baby ones. 

Just before leaving the refuge boundaries we decided to take a ride down a 4 wheel road (42) it looked like a fairly short drive in and out. It listed several water tanks at the end of the road so we thought it would be an interesting ride. Plus, we would be driving into the Castle Dome Mountains so how could we go wrong with beautiful views.

Parking area at the end of the road.

The Views surrounding us.

Tom took a short walk down the path but did not take his phone
so we have no pictures of what he saw.
He said, it was very pretty and he did see a rock ledge
but since he could not take any pictures decided to turn back.

Heading back out.

One of the not so great parts of the road.
We now compare anything we are going to attempt to
the ride we took up Harquahala Mountain.
So looking ahead Tom said, we have been up worse...up
 and over we went...then down and across on the way back.
(Besides, in the picture it looks like a "piece of cake".)

We saw the most color, other then yellow, on this road.

My bouquet which I took a
picture of because it stayed behind.

So ended our last ride in the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge for this trip. There is so much to explore and beauty to see in this refuge and we hope to spend more time doing just that in the years to come.

When Tom and I started out on our "First Adventure" we decided we would do our best to take each day as it came. Our goal was not to worry about rushing, seeing, and doing everything; we would trust that there would be another time. We wanted to relax, savor, and enjoy the adventure. For the most part we have accomplished our goal. When I found this quote below I saved it to share sometime down the "road" and today seemed like the perfect time. It sums up our feelings about this lifestyle and how we want to live out this time in our lives. 

"If you're always racing to the next moment,

what happens to the one you're in?

Enjoy The Ride."

Hoping you are all enjoying the ride. 

If you have a moment to leave a comment we would love to hear from you.