A very, very quiet place!
After the <relative> hustle and bustle of the last 6 weeks of Rallies, KOFA is a real retreat. There are few people here, it's very quiet - no highway noise; the sky is very dark at night and the mountains are gorgeous.
The Kofa Mountains rise up from the surrounding Sonoran desert to a height of 4,877 feet. Bighorn sheep make the mountains their home (although, I've never seen them). The 664,327 acre refuge was established in 1939 as a refuge for the sheep and other native wildlife following a campaign by the Arizona Boy Scouts.
The desert 'pavement' is softer here . . .
Where we are camped on Palm Canyon Road is part of many miles of flood plains - and the desert pavement reflects that!
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| The big 'MoHo' almost got stuck! |
Right now I'm traveling with friends; Julie, with a Scamp; Jeannie, with a small Chinook; and Roz, with a medium sized MotorHome. While my levelers sank into the sand a bit while I was setting up, Roz almost got stuck as her heavier rig sank into the gravel-covered sand. Luckily, she's an experienced driver, didn't panic and got to a more secure location!
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| I had to really move back to get all 4 rigs in the same frame - lots of room here! |
One benefit of being on the flood plain is the increased vegetation. It's very green here. All the Ocotillo is leafed out and there are even small grass shoots coming up.
A whole grove of Ocotillo behind my trailer
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| The desert floor here is criss-crossed with small, but deep washes - the brush is thick and green! |
Another great Arizona sunset
A bit breezy during the day, the wind abruptly died around sunset and we watched a very long sunset. The moon was quite late coming up, so when dark finally really fell, the stars were spectacular!
Beautiful pictures! We're on King Valley road this year. One more week. KOFA is amazing. We came upon a ram several weeks ago while out doing our job. He was beautiful. He was only about 50'away from us as we rounded a turn in the trail. We saw three sheep several weeks ago out by the North Star Mine.
ReplyDeleteI was looking for Bighorn as we hiked up Palm Canyon today - didn't see any. We did see a coyote yesterday - trotted right through our group of campers! Luckily, the cat was inside.
DeleteMaybe I'll see you before you leave - we'll probably leave Tuesday.
Looks like we're in for some weather!
You see more sheep along the back road at Imperial NWR than you do over here at KOFA. You almost always see sheep up on the cliffs above the Antares Cabin here at KOFA. Bayfield AL has good pictures of them on one of his old blogs. It's out King Valley Rd and left at 00 Junction. We have never seen any in Palm Canyon. We did see a ewe once in Queen of Kofà Canyon. Stop by if your on King Valley Rd. It looks like the storm passed. Sure hope so.
DeleteWe were really rocking and rolling last night! I discovered that the license plate / holder on my trailer can really make an annoying and constant rattle - I'll have to see if I can duck tape it quiet!
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