More from Quartzsite AZ, (Jan 2016)

Day trip to Yuma from Quartzsite.

While visiting our friends in Yuma, they gave us the grand tour of this city. Much agriculture here, the fields were brilliant green with several different kinds of lettuce growing. Other produce growing included spinach, broccoli, cauliflower and onions. We stopped at a farmers market and bought some fresh fruit and vegetables. 

 They drove us a little further south to the border town of San Luis. We were surprised to see this border wall, it's 20 feet high, a steel curtain of sorts. They say it's effective here, although a wall of this type only exists in certain areas on the border.  

Another day trip was a drive north to Parker AZ, we followed the Colorado River which separates California and Arizona. We found these wild burros in a little wayside on the river. They didn't seem too wild, although this was as close as we got. I think they're looking for a hand out or picnic left overs. They were fun to watch. 

The Colorado River.
We were surprised at how clean the water is and such a beautiful blue color.

We drove to Parker to see what the "Parker 425, Blast in the Desert" was all about.
It's an off-road race that covers 425 miles in the desert, it was exciting and amazing to see.  

Remnants of another abandoned mine near Quartzsite.

Native American grinding holes near Quartzsite.

We joined in a group tour with the Escapees Geocachers. (More on Geocaching later. ) My friend and I are demonstrating how the Native American women ground corn into flour. This is the site of an ancient settlement, the surrounding cliffs have interesting petroglyphs.

We've been learning about geocaching and are thoroughly enjoying this new activity. Geocaches have taken us to places we wouldn't have discovered on our own, often times interesting history is associated with the placement of the geocache. Here is one of our first geocache finds, (see tin box under stump), somebody put a fake snake there which got quite a reaction out of me. ha ha.

We found another geocache a few miles out of Quartzite, this desert area is known as Company B. It was a training ground for the military during WWII, General Patton was stationed here for a time. Rocks served as boundaries for roads or tent placements. We also found a big letter "B" drawn out with rocks. 

Another day trip was to the abandoned mining town of Swansea.  The town once had a population near 300 residents. The mines first closed in 1912. New owners restarted the mining operations and continued on for several years. The post office closed in 1924 as population decreased, by 1937 the mines were shut down for good and Swansea became a ghost town. 

Huge metal cover over one of the deep mine shafts at Swansea.

The shaft goes straight down, we couldn't see the bottom. Swansea is listed as a Historic Town Site, interesting signage tells of the history and the layout of the town. Some of the old housing units are being restored, others have crumbled to the ground and all that remains is an outline of adobe rubble. 

Beautiful colors in rocks at Swansea.

I don't know what the minerals are in these rocks but the colors were outstanding. Wondering if the turquoise color is from copper since Swansea processed copper ore from area mines.