Quartzsite Arizona
My favorite place for thawing out, surrounded by Saguaros, used to be the Pima County Fairgrounds. But I was priced out of that location, so I kept going west and pulled into Picacho Peak State Park. Though crowded, this place can usually find a spot for me if I cry and beg loudly and long enough.
I much prefer to be at the Picacho Peak State Park in the Springtime when the flowers bloom, but I need a place to stay on my way to Yuma, and Picacho Peak is a friendly port in the storm.
I like Tombstone for a variety of reasons, but it's just too cold, mostly because of its 4400-foot altitude. For crying out loud, it snowed on me the other day. I need to get out of the altitude and further west to take advantage of Arizona's normally warm weather.
I figure I’ll boondock in Yuma for a while, but I'm not sure. I might head north up to Lake Havasu. They've got great boondocking there, or I might head East to the Phoenix area and hang around there for a while.
Even though I don't like to be around Quartzsite during the "Big Show" because of the crowds, I thought that since I take boondocking as a normal way to live, most "normal" people stay in RV parks. There may be folks out there who don't realize how many people actually long-term boondock like me, and maybe taking some pictures of Quartzsite when it's crowded might enlighten some folks as to how many RVers boondock so by comparison, I won't seem so weird.
Okay, I'll still seem weird, but you might know how many weird people there are out there, and Quartzsite draws them by the thousands. There are RV parks downtown Quartzsite where people can camp with full hookups, but that's not why most people go there; most go to the desert to boondock and enjoy the camaraderie of other long-term boondockers. It's a unique place and attracts many exceptional people who enjoy nature and the freedom that boondocking offers.
Theboondork
Boondocking at the Picacho Peak State Park. I much prefer the boondocking area instead of the hookup area, its more peaceful and quiet and I’m not surrounded by a bunch of RVs.
If you want to be warm, you have to stay near the Saguaros. Like me, they can’t take the cold for more than a short while, or they will die. So anywhere you see Saguaros growing, which is the Sonoran Desert in Arizona, it can’t get too cold or stay that way for long.
Cholla——Pronounced Cho-ya cactus. The worst Cactus in the desert.