Going North from the Southwest

After wrapping up the El Camino del Diablo in Yuma, we had pretty much finished our westward trip across southern Arizona, so there was just one direction for us to go, North. It was nearing the new year and it was time to head in the direction of home. We reached Kofa National Wildlife Refuge in time to take in one more spectacular Arizona sunset.

We had plans for a more extensive exploration of Kofa, but I had a hunch the roads were rough, and after the rough roads at the end of the El Camino del Diablo we just didn’t have the stomach for more this time around. We’ll keep the backcountry roads at Kofa on the list for the next trip. Instead, the next morning we did the short walk up to see the palms of palm canyon.

The morning sun provided some dramatic lighting in the canyon.

After palm canyon it was time to start our way north in earnest. We took a couple of days moving north through Arizona, but I would say that the trip from Quarzsite through Kingman is not as picturesque as the places we had been on the rest of our tour of the southwest, so it was mostly just a drive. After a night at Lake Mead we had come full circle on our “Tour of the Southwest.” We still had a couple days remaining as we planned to stay out through the end of the holidays. We’d already celebrated Solstice, Festivus and Christmas so all that remained was New Years. We travelled about as far north as we could and still find weather that didn’t include freezing temperatures, and spent a couple days at the Red Cliffs of southern Utah.

It seemed everyone in southern Utah decided to go for a hike on New Years eve, and unfortunately, due to the idiotic design of the campground, the trail they all wanted to hike started right at our campsite. I’ll spare the rest of the details and just offer this advice: don’t ever stay at site number 7 at the Red Cliffs campground. We were very thankful that the rain came for New Years to keep the crowds away and provide a quieter day on our last day out.