OTG_1
Active member
The weekend before the long Thanksgiving weekend (plus a few extra PTO days), myself and two friends drove down from the SF Bay Area to the Sonoran Desert in Southern Arizona to explore the Kofa Wildlife Refuge, which is commonly referred to simply as "Kofa Wilderness". Kofa is simply an acronym for "King of Arizona", referring to the old King of Arizona Mine, which is remains active to this day. There are a number of other mines within Kofa, but most are currently inactive.
Given the long haul, and fighting Friday traffic to escape the Bay Area, we decided to boondock on BLM land outside of the Palm Springs and Indio area. Upon nearing the campsite, I got reports that it was a good 45 minute drive in along a moderately technical jeep track. As I pulled off the Interstate around midnight, I began to wonder if they were pulling my leg. The coordinates for the campsite were less than a mile away, and the double-wide graded BLM road could be easily driven by a Prius. Well, it turns out they hadn't seen the Pin on the shared GPX file indicating where the trail and the interstate met-- they had driven through a residential neighbor, and then 6+ miles of rocky trail to reach the campsite. We got a mediocre night's rest with the howling desert winds that night.
If you're interested in our route, you can find it at Overland Trail Guides. We followed the majority of the route, save the final stretch to the Big Eye Mine.
Day 0
Night 1 outside of Palm Springs. Not a bad campsite for some basic sleuthing on Gaia GPS and Google Earth.
The view looking at Palm Springs.
Day 1
We made the three or so hour drive across the border and over to Quartzite. This place was crawling with Snowbirds and boondockers everywhere! I was beginning to fret that my plans to escape the crowds might not come to fruition (exactly why I opted to avoid Anza-Borrego over the holiday weekend). The group made our way over to Queen Canyon intent on making a beeline to Skull Rock. Winnebagos, Sprinters, and Ram Promasters seemed to be lurking around every corner. But as the smooth graded dirt gave way to rockier roads, the crowds began to thin out immediately. And then we started to take in the full experience of Kofa, nary a camper in site-- except for the lucky couple who had set up camp at Skull Rock. Queen Canyon was spectactular and we were really hoping to catch site of the elusive Bighorn Sheep that call Kofa home.
Skull Rock
We departed Queen Canyon and burned about 10 miles of pavement back to the next trail. Late afternoon was closing in fast and we decided that it'd be best to find an amicable campsite well before the sun set. With the snowbirds long gone, we hadn't seen seen anyone on the trail since leaving the pavement behind-- just how I like it!
Sunsets and sunrises in the desert never seem to disappoint, and this day was no different. I just wish I had gotten some more photos of the setting sun...
Day 2 - Welcome to Kofa
It wasn't until day 2 that we got the "true" Kofa Experience. Lots of trails in Kofa are slow going as they meander left and right around Saguaro and ocotillo, but mostly from the undulating landscape of wash after wash. The ups and downs through all of the washes and slow going through some of the rockier washes was really killing my MPGs, not much of a surprise given the V8 under the hood of my land cruiser. We were pleasantly surprised by some of the more technical sections in one of the washes that actually required a bit of spotting for our friend John in his stock double-cab, long bed Tacoma (he's decided to invest in some sliders since this trip!). Despite the unforgiving landscape, a number of ranchers and miners have called Kofa home over the last 100+ years. Some of these old homesteads and cabins remain today.
Probably the most rocky/technical wash in the whole route. I'd rate is as a mild blue trail, but it can be managed with a stock high clearance 4x4 like a Wrangler or 4Runner.
Given the long haul, and fighting Friday traffic to escape the Bay Area, we decided to boondock on BLM land outside of the Palm Springs and Indio area. Upon nearing the campsite, I got reports that it was a good 45 minute drive in along a moderately technical jeep track. As I pulled off the Interstate around midnight, I began to wonder if they were pulling my leg. The coordinates for the campsite were less than a mile away, and the double-wide graded BLM road could be easily driven by a Prius. Well, it turns out they hadn't seen the Pin on the shared GPX file indicating where the trail and the interstate met-- they had driven through a residential neighbor, and then 6+ miles of rocky trail to reach the campsite. We got a mediocre night's rest with the howling desert winds that night.
If you're interested in our route, you can find it at Overland Trail Guides. We followed the majority of the route, save the final stretch to the Big Eye Mine.
Day 0
Night 1 outside of Palm Springs. Not a bad campsite for some basic sleuthing on Gaia GPS and Google Earth.
The view looking at Palm Springs.
Day 1
We made the three or so hour drive across the border and over to Quartzite. This place was crawling with Snowbirds and boondockers everywhere! I was beginning to fret that my plans to escape the crowds might not come to fruition (exactly why I opted to avoid Anza-Borrego over the holiday weekend). The group made our way over to Queen Canyon intent on making a beeline to Skull Rock. Winnebagos, Sprinters, and Ram Promasters seemed to be lurking around every corner. But as the smooth graded dirt gave way to rockier roads, the crowds began to thin out immediately. And then we started to take in the full experience of Kofa, nary a camper in site-- except for the lucky couple who had set up camp at Skull Rock. Queen Canyon was spectactular and we were really hoping to catch site of the elusive Bighorn Sheep that call Kofa home.
Skull Rock
We departed Queen Canyon and burned about 10 miles of pavement back to the next trail. Late afternoon was closing in fast and we decided that it'd be best to find an amicable campsite well before the sun set. With the snowbirds long gone, we hadn't seen seen anyone on the trail since leaving the pavement behind-- just how I like it!
Sunsets and sunrises in the desert never seem to disappoint, and this day was no different. I just wish I had gotten some more photos of the setting sun...
Day 2 - Welcome to Kofa
It wasn't until day 2 that we got the "true" Kofa Experience. Lots of trails in Kofa are slow going as they meander left and right around Saguaro and ocotillo, but mostly from the undulating landscape of wash after wash. The ups and downs through all of the washes and slow going through some of the rockier washes was really killing my MPGs, not much of a surprise given the V8 under the hood of my land cruiser. We were pleasantly surprised by some of the more technical sections in one of the washes that actually required a bit of spotting for our friend John in his stock double-cab, long bed Tacoma (he's decided to invest in some sliders since this trip!). Despite the unforgiving landscape, a number of ranchers and miners have called Kofa home over the last 100+ years. Some of these old homesteads and cabins remain today.
Probably the most rocky/technical wash in the whole route. I'd rate is as a mild blue trail, but it can be managed with a stock high clearance 4x4 like a Wrangler or 4Runner.
