Monday, November 8, 2010

Bill Williams River National Wildlife Refuge

P1030178

Yesterday we drove about 7 miles south to the Bill Williams River NWR. We visited it last year and decided to go back and see if there were any other hiking trails. This is a beautiful spot on the Colorado River, which the Bill Williams River flows into. We walked the trail out to a scenic point. There were quite a few people fishing.

P1030183

And this boat which appeared to be cleaning debris out of the water.

P1030177

Debbie and I went over to ask the volunteers about other trails, and spent a long time talking with Darren and Joyce, a very nice couple from the Tampa Bay area, who’ve been fulltiming in their 5th wheel for a year.

Jim did some bird watching while we were socializing.

P1030182 P1030180

They told us to take a drive on Planet Ranch Road, across from the Visitor Center. It’s a 3 mile dirt road through the refuge, with some exciting ups and downs..There were nice views of the refuge, and we only saw a couple other vehicles. It felt really remote.

P1030191

At the 1.5 mile marker, we stopped and hiked into a short slot canyon.

P1030187

P1030189

When we came out of the canyon, we were surprised to see red rocks and Saguaro cactus.

P1030186

After crawling on hands and knees under a barbed wire fence, we were stopped by thick vegetation, mosquitoes, and flies as we got closer to the river, so we had to turn back. Those bugs just love to bite Jim!

Today we’re heading off to California, and the south side of Joshua Tree National Park.

1 comment:

  1. That first picture is great! You're headed for Joshua Tree NP. That's one of my favorite parks. My husband and I have campground hosted at parks in Central Coast California over the past year. We're enjoying the RV lifestyle and I wish we could find a way to do it even longer.

    ReplyDelete