Kofa National Wildlife Refuge

14 December 2014   King of Arizona (Kofa) Mine

The mine only lasted for 13 years but the name contraction lives on after the Arizona Boy Scouts campaigned to set up a bighorn sheep refuge starting in 1936. This resulted in over 1.5 million acres being set aside between Kofa and Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge in 1939.

So far we have walked the Horse Tanks and Palm Canyon Trails (coming up). Easy going if you stay out of the cacti and remain vertical. There are opportunities to hurt yourself if you do dumb things. I will demonstrate at the Horse Tanks.

Horse Tanks

Just like you I thought this was a place you kept your horse or gave him a bath in after a dusty ride. But we are both wrong – westerners call ponds and pools (at least the natural ones) tanks. I’m thinking tanks are where you put your gas or hot water. So here is a tank western style:

To get to the tanks you can drive your jeep on the jeep road or you can walk. We brought Smiley who gets treated like a truck, is a 4X4, but really doesn’t have the clearance of a true jeep. We walked.

 Between desert vistas and gorgeous flora we were entertained fully on the 2 mile walk (could be longer) in to the parking area. Then up a short trail to the tanks. Just before the largest tank I showed how lack of attention to your footing can result in a small slip. No biggie unless you are right next to an opportunistic teddy bear cholla. Just brush the little buggers and they latch on with hooked barbs:

Can’t blame the cholla – it’s not like they can walk around spreading their offspring. You just have to yank ‘em out with your pliers and do the spreading. BTW – you must carry pliers when hiking out here.

We had lunch out here in the silence. All you could hear was the gentle breeze.

I spared you the selfie.

If you look closely (or pay attention when Norene says “I hear a bee buzzing”) you might find a bee at one of the small tanks. Hard to see in the bright sun so I enlarged the picture:

Norene says these holes were used by indigenous people for grinding:

This was the place where we met the self conscious saguaros. These ones may seem familiar:

Palm Canyon

As we climbed up the Palm Canyon Trail (some steepish parts) I’m thinking this will end  with a climb down to some sort of oasis to see the palms. So lots of climb for the money (actually Kofa is free) and a relaxing time by the spring (tank?).

It was not until we got to the end of the trail and saw a sign pointing up further that we realized these hardy palms are above us. No oasis here.

Ain’t going to be up close and personal with these guys. Theory is they are leftovers from a former seashore or traveled here by bird or animal (ingested and ejected seeds) from California. Doesn’t really matter – this is worth the little ½ mile jaunt up here.

There are a ton of other places to go in Kofa – we’ll be back.