10 Feb 2018
LaPosa South, BLM
We went south (again) towards Yuma, but this time to the Imperial Dam Long Term Visitor Area (LTVA). Like here in Quartzsite, Imperial Dam and Senator Wash Reservoir is a popular place this time of year, with 1000’s of RV’s scattered throughout who have staked their temporary claim to a piece of the desert.
Our first stop was to the Marine Corps Lake Martinez campground (32.986346, -114.476270). No cell service, but some rolling hills with 17 campsites that face the lake.. What? Water in the desert, palm trees, wow it was a beautiful place, but with so few campsites, good luck getting into these gems. We met some nice folks visiting and we chatted about our Alaska trip…. We love Alaska and we know they will too.
The Imperial National Wildlife Refuge Visitor center was only a few miles down another wash board dirt road.
A volunteer who works there was outside watching the sprinkler water the cacti. Interesting, I thought, so I asked her what she was watering, and she said “desert plants”. Okay, I asked…….But then she said, before we go inside, she wanted to show us a rare treat around the side of the building. Well “Dozer”, has been hibernating for a while, and he decided to emerge from his desert den and eat some green grass. They have 3 desert tortoises and Dozer was happy to be seen. After a short video with Dozer, we went inside the visitor center, and the volunteer was a wealth of information and very pleasant. Her and her husband are fulltime Rvrs, and they volunteer here, and she really likes her job.
The Imperial National Wildlife Refuge protects wildlife habitat along 30 miles of the lower Colorado River in Arizona and California, including the last un-channeled section before the river enters Mexico. Even though it is located in the Sonoran Desert, the Imperial National Wildlife Refuge is home to a mostly wetland environment. What? Wetland in the desert? I’m from New York, tell me anything…..
I have learned since we have been in the desert, that whenever we saw some vegetation, it was probably located in a dry wash, where it got some water during the monsoon season, and we did not want to park in it or by it……..So my biggest take away from our visit to the Refuge Center was the lack of tall trees on the river banks.
From 1852 until 1909 the banks of the lower Colorado River were lined with cottonwood and willow forests, sustained by the river’s natural periodic flooding. So think about this. steamships carried goods from the Gulf of California (Mexico) up to Nevada, had to burn wood. Coal was not readily available and was expensive, so the steamships burned wood.. Lots of wood. Due to sand bars in the river, the steamships could not carry alot of wood so work crews would cut down sections of the cottonwood trees and willow stands along the river and stack it for the boats when they needed it.
So the trees were no more, why not plant more you say? Well, things get complicated now, so bear with me…. The Laguna Dam was built in 1905, the first of the now 15 dams on the mighty Colorado River, and they prevent the river from flooding (among other things). A good thing right? Well, the Sonaron desert was an ancient sea bed once apon a time, meaning there is alot of salt content in the ground. When (if) a new tree is planted, the salt will not allow the tree to grow as it kills the roots. Mother natures way of handling that was to flood periodically, thus washing the concentrated salt from the roots and the tree would grow. Daming the river, meant no more steamships, and the death of alot of trees.
Okay, we made our to The Imperial Dam Long Term Visitor Area includes smaller camping areas with such colorful names as South Mesa, Hurricane Ridge, Coyote Ridge, Skunk Hollow, Florida Flats, Ocotillo Flats and Quail Hill. Each of these areas has it’s own special attraction, whether it’s protection from the wind, a view of the Senator Wash Reservoir or a beautiful view of the surrounding hills.