Palm Canyon

After spending a month in Bullhead City it's great to get back out in the desert away from all the city stuff. Went out to Thanksgiving dinner with our friends Dave & Debbie from Oregon.  We're dry camped in the Dome Rock area again, heard there was a gold strike here recently (not the point of our trip) but worth investigating.  We drove to Palm Canyon yesterday and hiked up the narrow ravine to the palm groves.

Aparently these may be some of the only native Palms in Arizona.  These California Fan Palms are not date bearing and are thought to be decendants of palms growing in the region during the last periods of North American glaciation.  Probably spreading into the canyons and other protected areas as the climate warmed to desert conditions.  

  The trail winds up through a ravine of Mesquite, Palo Verde, Ironwood and a few Sagauro cactus.  It's about 1/2 mile to the first of the groves and it looks like some great hiking beyond and further up the canyon.  It just seems really unusual to find palms in an area like this.  As you stand and look up at the palms in the steep narrow ravines you're surrounded on three sides by sheer rock faces and as you look back out you see a narrow band of  blue sky from where you started the hike.  The contrast of color here is vivid with all the deep shadows and brilliant blue above.

 

Bighorn sheep inhabit the canyon as well as coyote and several species of birds.  For more info on the Kofa National Wildlife Reserve visit http://www.fws.gov/southwest/refuges/arizona/kofa/index.html .

Thanks for visiting....  see ya next week...