10/02: Checking out Quartzsite
Category: General
Posted by: The Agnew Family
As the markets in Quartzsite are rapidly closing down, we did one last trip on Saturday looking for rocks. I still have trouble with the concept of buying rocks but we did ... ok they were fossils and Ed says that makes them special so it's OK to buy them for display. Of course, if they are finished stones to be worn as pendants thats OK too! Yes, I bought a couple more and have lost count of how many I now own.
Sunday was a hang around the trailer blogging and figuring out the trip home. Hard to believe but it's almost time to start heading slowly east again.
Today, we went into into Quartzsite to look at a few of the "attractions" in town and do a little geocaching.
This pyramid of native stone marks the resting place of Hi Jolly, a Greek born in Syria, also known as Hadji Ali. Hi Jolly was hired in 1857 as a camel herder in the U.S. Army's short-lived historic Camel Corps. In 1861 the Civil War commenced, ending the day of the Camel Corps. Hi Jolly returned to Quartzsite, trying his had at mining, packing, scouting, delivering the "Jackass Mail", and selling water to travelers.
This native Ironwood tree is 1050 years old. The Ironwood tree is only found in the Sonoran desert. It can grow to 45 feet tall (short by Ontario standards). The shaded sanctuary and richer soils created by ironwoods increase plant diversity and provide benefits to wildlife. Another noteworthy item about the Ironwood is the weight of the wood --- it is an extremely dense and heavy wood.
While looking for a geocache we met some people from Alberta. They were in the same vicinity but instead of looking for geocaches they were looking for painted rocks. As Quartzsite has lots of rocks they decided to do painted rocks instead of moose or horses as other city have done.
Celia's Rainbow garden can be found in the Quartzsite town park. Unfortunately, Celia, an eight year old, died in 1994. The garden was created in her memory. Since then it has become a memorial garden for many people. We loved this wall with children's hand prints.
This picture was done using different color rocks.
This miniature western town was donated to the park. Reminded us of the Dome ghost town only smaller.
Ed found a geocache called Saguaro-henge here. Don't know if that's the name for this section of the garden but I thought it fit.
A book we have about Quartzsite told us about the Spanish wall and stone cabin south east of Quartzsite. Sounded fairly easy to get to and the roads sounded not too bad so we decided to look for it. The road was OK but the directions weren't the best. After parking the truck and walking Zaph and I found the cabin. It was interesting and afforded some good views of Quartzsite and the mountains.
The Spanish wall was missed on the trek to the cabin but found on the way out. It no longer looks like the picture in the book.
Sunday was a hang around the trailer blogging and figuring out the trip home. Hard to believe but it's almost time to start heading slowly east again.
Today, we went into into Quartzsite to look at a few of the "attractions" in town and do a little geocaching.
This pyramid of native stone marks the resting place of Hi Jolly, a Greek born in Syria, also known as Hadji Ali. Hi Jolly was hired in 1857 as a camel herder in the U.S. Army's short-lived historic Camel Corps. In 1861 the Civil War commenced, ending the day of the Camel Corps. Hi Jolly returned to Quartzsite, trying his had at mining, packing, scouting, delivering the "Jackass Mail", and selling water to travelers.
This native Ironwood tree is 1050 years old. The Ironwood tree is only found in the Sonoran desert. It can grow to 45 feet tall (short by Ontario standards). The shaded sanctuary and richer soils created by ironwoods increase plant diversity and provide benefits to wildlife. Another noteworthy item about the Ironwood is the weight of the wood --- it is an extremely dense and heavy wood.
While looking for a geocache we met some people from Alberta. They were in the same vicinity but instead of looking for geocaches they were looking for painted rocks. As Quartzsite has lots of rocks they decided to do painted rocks instead of moose or horses as other city have done.
Celia's Rainbow garden can be found in the Quartzsite town park. Unfortunately, Celia, an eight year old, died in 1994. The garden was created in her memory. Since then it has become a memorial garden for many people. We loved this wall with children's hand prints.
This picture was done using different color rocks.
This miniature western town was donated to the park. Reminded us of the Dome ghost town only smaller.
Ed found a geocache called Saguaro-henge here. Don't know if that's the name for this section of the garden but I thought it fit.
A book we have about Quartzsite told us about the Spanish wall and stone cabin south east of Quartzsite. Sounded fairly easy to get to and the roads sounded not too bad so we decided to look for it. The road was OK but the directions weren't the best. After parking the truck and walking Zaph and I found the cabin. It was interesting and afforded some good views of Quartzsite and the mountains.
The Spanish wall was missed on the trek to the cabin but found on the way out. It no longer looks like the picture in the book.