RV Winter Rambling 2006-07

It’s kinda like Woodstock, but everyone’s over 70…..
Quartzsite is an arid pioneer town that comes alive in January each year when 250,000 snowbirds descend in their RV’s. They mostly boondock (no hookups and pay no fees) on BLM lands (public lands) in the desert; they erect their satellite dishes for TV and internet; they tilt their solar panels to capture the energy needed by their sophisticated coaches; they put out awnings, mats, sunshades and patio furniture and they settle in for the winter – their nest is ready. They come for the acres of swap meets, the ‘rock and mineral’ shows, the monster tent shows like the RV and Travel extravaganza but most of all, they come for the warm sunshine. There’s a feeling of freedom away from the RV parks out in the desert. They don’t need their umbilical cords attached to electricity, water and sewer – their RV’s are fully self-contained.

We settled our motorhome out in the desert on the BLM lands amongst hundreds of others. We were part of a group with four other motorhomes – reminiscent of the pioneer wagon trains circled to provide protection. Large hummingbirds flit around like giant insects and we had hummingbird feeders suctioned to our windows so we could watch the colourful little birds with their shiny crimson heads and iridescent blue necks.

We elected to spend little time at the shows and sales and each morning we’d head out deep into the desert and mountains Geocaching. As well as providing us with a lot of extreme exercise, the cache destinations introduced us to a lot of history and pre-history of the area as well as the ecology.

Prehistoric Times
Our little Honda CRV 4x4 is terrific on sandy and rocky desert trails and proved itself on a jaunt into the Chocolate Mountains. On nothing more than an ATV track, we manoeuvred ourselves through some extremely rugged desert terrain up to a long abandoned mine. We clambered carefully around the isolated mineshaft, aware that collapsing tunnels could be below us and we could fall through. Eventually, we found the treasure but the best find of all was a human footprint and finger holds embedded into a large expanse of exposed bedrock. Apparently, six million or so years ago, someone had left the prints in the then-soft clay, which spread out (by the size of the print – either that or Bigfoot had been there) and hardened under a protected cover of sand. Mining exposed it all these years later..

While we were studying the footprint down in a shallow gorge, we heard the buzz of ATV’s approaching. The buzz turned to a roar and we looked up to see four faces peering down at us. I waved a greeting to some of the toughest looking dudes you could imagine – clad in leathers and bandanas and sporting wild facial hair. Quick thoughts of the old Burt Reynolds film ‘Deliverance’ flashed through my mind. But they were harmless and friendly locals. The oldest of the four was a real chatterbox. He told me how he had a house on the Colorado River and he’d boat down the river from Lake Havasu all the way to Yuma.
“It’s a real kick – you and your hubby would love it” His tough exterior was just a cover for a simple and friendly personality.
“I’m a Grandpa,” he announced proudly. He didn’t even look more than forty years old.

As I was measuring my foot against the ancient footprint, he grinned and said, “Ain’t that really something?” and then went on to tell me how he met an archaeologist at the site and that’s how he knew it was six million years old. The other three much younger guys were scrabbling around with Fernie.
“Are you looking for the cache?” said one.
“I can show you where it is” and he scrambled up the steep bank.
“Here it is – under the tree. We always look in it but we don’t touch nothin’.”
It was a large ammo can full of bits and pieces. In Geocaching language, they (non-cachers) are called “Muggles” and we cachers try to behave stealthily and not give away what we’re doing or where the cache is hidden but they had watched other geocachers on a previous visit. They left us alone to delve into the contents of the can and shortly we heard their vehicles burst back into life and surge away.

Another long steep climb up a barren mountain provided us with a spectacular view across the desert and over Quartzsite in the distance. The ascent was brutal. A cloak of volcanic rocks made it particularly treacherous but the descent was worse, rocks slipping away beneath our feet. We took it very slowly and were so glad we’d worn our hiking boots and especially happy we had our climbing poles – otherwise I think I might still be up there. The cache was on the craggy peak with no level spots to relax on, so I sat astride a pointy ridge to study the meagre contents of the cache.

2,000 years ago – or so
Across the bumpy flatlands scattered with Saguaro cacti through dry washes that gouge the desert in the occasional rainstorm, we finally arrived at the rocky foothills and within half a mile of the cache coordinates. As we hiked the remaining distance, we encountered geckos and ground squirrels scurrying across in front of us. Jackrabbits suddenly darted out of the bushes with such rapidity it would make us jump. We kept close watch for rattlers and coral snakes but it probably wasn’t hot enough for them. In the hillsides were caves within an easy climb and we wondered about the early inhabitants, when above and beside the cave entrances faint but legible petroglyphs decorated the walls. We could just make out a wolf’s head and either coyotes or foxes. How wonderful to find such treasures so away from tourist trails as if we were the first to discover them.

19th Century
Hajid Ali, a little Arab born in Syria early in the 19th century, was brought over to the USA by the American army along with a large herd of camels. The army figured that camels could be used to transport goods across the southern deserts much as they did in Africa and the Middle East. The soldiers unable to pronounce Hajid Ali, corrupted his name to Hi Jolly. He was a skilled camel herder but the experiment didn’t work out satisfactorily and Hi Jolly’s last camp was in central Quartzsite. A small pyramid was erected at the site as a memorial and the district surrounding it is known to this day as Hi Jolly. The camels were let loose in the desert and legend has it that they’re progeny still roam in the surrounding hills ------- very unlikely, I’d say.

Down the street the ramshackle ruins of the old jailhouse and general store evoked visions of early western life.













There are many abandoned mines in the Chocolate Mountains and one particular search took us to an extremely rickety old shaft the aged, creaking timbers precariously perched on the side of a precipitous hill. Quartzsite was once crawling with prospectors and miners.




1930’s – 1940’s
In the centre of town between tented swap meets, lay remnants of the sleepy burg that Quartzsite used to be. In disuse today with ‘No Trespassing’ signs nailed haphazardly across them, are an aged service station and motel. Quartzsite was a stop off and refuelling point for those traversing the slow pre-interstate road from Pumpkinville (Phoenix) to Los Angeles. Funny that they haven’t been razed or remodelled.

21st Century
The boondocking life made us quite envious of those with solar panels capturing energy and providing them quiet power on tap. So we splurged and outfitted Maggie with a 130 Watt solar panel, a 250 Watt inverter, two additional batteries, monitors and miscellaneous gizmos. RV Lifestyles in Quartzsite had been highly recommended to us by two people and as we already had check prices, theirs at $1,900 all taxes in was pretty good – and we just love it. Money well spent.

posted by O'Leary @ 1:50 PM