Palm Canyon Trail

We decided that we did not want to be around any shopping malls on Black Friday, so the best place to be would be a remote area northeast of Yuma. In fact, Palm Canyon is so remote we had to drive over ten miles of gravel road to get there. It is believed that the only native palm trees in Arizona are tucked away in the narrow, rugged canyons on the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge. The trees are California Fan Palms. They are probably the descendants of palms growing in this region during the last periods of North American glaciation.

I apologize for the picture, the palms can be better seen if the picture is enlarged. It was so awesome to see them, even if we were still a distance from them. We  saw the larger grove of palms in the canyon, about less than a hundred. We did try to get closer, but the trail got rougher as we headed up toward them. Large rocks and steep sections impeded our progress toward them. Cactus with thorny spines grabbed at my pants. We had to eventually call it quits and head back down.

Before closing here I would like to mention our trip to Mexico on Saturday. We drove to the town of Algodones in Baja California. We were bombarded by store merchants immediately after we crossed the border. Salesmen on the sidewalks asked us many times if we needed a root canal or teeth cleaning- dentists are plentiful just across the border. I was also informed by a couple of young men that my shoes were in dire need of a polishing, which they were after hiking on a dusty trail the day before. I did part with some money to get them shined up. Wow, after a good polishing they looked better than they looked when they were new! It was a bit over whelming to see so much merchandise- from jewelry, leather goods, to blankets and baskets. Perhaps if we had not been badgered so much, we would have purchased a few more items. We eventually gave up on shopping and went to lunch before heading back home. So much for avoiding Black Friday! We have been to Mexico before, and every town across the border seems the same.