There are so many things to do and places to see in this area that its great to make friends with people that have been here before. The group decided to go see Palm Canyon, which we had never heard of but sounded interesting. Its about 1.5 hours from Yuma with half of that on back roads. Way back in the canyon behind the ladies is Palm Canyon.
Its about a 1/2hour hike back to the canyon over rugged trails with lots of rock and cactus. It was a cool day which was perfect; the climb had us sweating soon enough.
The canyon has sheer walls on both sides which look like they are leaning over you when you look up. Very spectacular. We finally reached the side valley where the palm trees are.
The palm trees high up in the narrow gorge have been there for a hundred years or more and are the only naturally started palm trees in Arizona. All others have been planted. It is assumed that these were started by birds dropping the seeds hundreds of years ago.
The palm trees are 30 feet or more high and have grown very slowly in the narrow gorge with little sunlight or nutrients. Most of the tree trunks are black from a fire in 1954. They still look like it just happened. These are date palms and through binoculars you can see dates on the trees.
Looking back down the canyon you can see the height we climbed and part of the back road we drove up. The road is very poor with washouts from the last rain. The nice thing is it forces you to drive very slowly so you have time to see things along the road like cactus'.
After enjoying the view for a while its time to head back down. It was cool in the shade but no wind. When we came back down it warmed up but got very windy.
Back at the bottom of the canyon there was a lot more and varied plant life. There are 3 different cactus' in this picture and they'd all like to impale you if they could. Nasty little beggars.
These people know what they're doing. They planned a picnic lunch after the hike. Having lunch in the fresh desert air with the canyon in the background was a great experience. And we were definitely hungry after the hike. All in all a great day of exploring the back country.
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