Exploring around Wilcox and Safford Arizona

Last Up date on: 2003 November 14
Recent changes: My 2002 travels starting with my summer 2002 trip to Utah.
Summer 2002. 1. AMTRAK 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.

Fri 03-02-07 12:16:04

I spent about a week exploring the area around Wilcox, Arizona; and north to Safford and Thatcher. I had met a couple when I hiked to Fort Bowie that told me they'd been to "Hot Well Dunes Recreation Area" and they thought it was great and there was lots of camping around there. I went into the Safford BLM Field Office and got a brochure about it. The following is from the brochure: Hot Well sprang into existence by accident back in 1928, when drillers seeking oil under the sand dunes broke into a pocket of hot water at a depth of 1,920 feet. The artisan well, producing over 250 gallons of water per minute at 106 degrees Fahrenheit, has been flowing ever since.

Where else does the opportunity to ride in sand dunes and soak in relaxing hot tubs exist at the same location? There are two pools about 10 feet in diameter and about belly button deep; they have steps getting in and sort of a bench about two feet deep around the outside. You can set on the steps or the bench, but I found the water much too hot to be either comfortable or healthy in my opinion.

For anyone who has seen the sand dunes around Yuma, these are pathetic. They are in scrubby desert brush and at most 15 feet high where the roots of the scrub has held the sand. But it seems to be the only area for miles where the ATV'rs are allowed to ride like crazy. The area is relatively small, while not exactly rectangular it is at most about a mile and a half wide, and about two and a half long. I think it is a "sacrificial" area of desert. It is sad that the ATV area is around the Hot Tubs. The hot tubers want piece and quite, while the ATV'rs seem to just want to raise hell, go like crazy and throw trash and beer bottles everywhere.

I stayed for a few days but everyone said that the place is a mad house on the weekends, so I left on Friday; but even then there were lots of ATV's being brought in. The desert around Benson, Wilcox, Safford, and even down to Douglas is interesting but for desert cactus it doesn't compare to the area west of Tucson.

Myself and a couple others who left for the week-end went North and East of Safford on highway 191 and camped for two nights (I stayed three.) in an area set aside for Rock Hounds. There is a lot of agate and some "Fire Agate". There were quite a number of people there with picks and shovels who seem to be serious collectors. I gathered up about a quart of pretty rocks.

One of the two fellows had to get home to Phoenix, and only stayed one night. I was going to leave but when I got out of the little canyon and could look down on the valley Safford is in, the whole area was just a big cloud of blowing sand. So I drove further east on highway 191 but the next valley was blowing dust also so I went back and spent the night where we had camped the night before. The next day I went into Safford and got a good Mexican meal and some groceries and came back and collected rocks.

The next day I took US 70 east to Lordsburg, NM and state route 90 on to Silver City. I stayed the night in a motel in Silver City, and then the next day took my van into the Ford dealer for a lube and oil job. While in the motel I decided to try AMTRAK one more time and called to see if I could go back to San Jose from Deming, NM for about ten days. The result was that AMTRAK wanted $390 (that was not a sleeper either!) for round trip, but being a "Senior Citizen" I would get a 25% discount but it still was over $260 not including taxes. I called South West and got a round trip from Tucson to Oakland for $230 including all taxes, and for a Senior Citizen it is refundable and can be changed at not additional cost. I fly out of Tucson Feb 11 at 10:35 (Flight 141 to 2378) and get into Oakland at 2:15 PM. My return is from Oakland on Feb 21 at 9:30 (Flight 2413 to 1130) and get into Tucson at 1:55 PM. I will go to Tucson and stay in a Motel and make arrangements to leave my van in a Boat or RV parking lot. I don't expect any problems doing that; it worked fine in Yuma.

Sun 03-02-09 07:42:42

I spent last night in a Motel in Lordsburg, NM which is only about 10 miles on Interstate 10 from Arizona. Yesterday, when I got up in the morning there was about an inch of snow on the ground; and big snow flakes the size of half dollars were coming down at a good clip. I hadn't seen that since I spent winters in Utah, so I got up and went for a hike through the campground. I didn't go far before regretting not bringing my GPS with me. Visibility was low, and I certainly didn't want to get lost in a winter storm, even if only in a campground looking for my van! I got back in my van and kept three layers of everything I had on to keep warm. The temperature inside the van was a little below freezing. I thought about leaving but I didn't want to chance being on the roads if there was much snow accumulation. Fortunately I was at a hot spring, and the water in the coolest tub was about 100 degrees, which was perfect for me. So I spent about two hours alone (I suppose others were bundled up in their RV's.) setting in the water watching the snow flakes. That was really pretty neat. By noon listening to the radio it was obvious that it had only rained down in Deming so I left and got a good Mexican meal then headed west.

This morning there was solid frost on all the windows of my van. According to the TV out of Albuquerque it was about 25 degrees, but there was a fog warning for all the counties in south west New Mexico. So I am finishing this up waiting to be sure the fog has burned off.

If you have suggestions, comments or ideas e-mail me. I would like to hear from you.
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