Friday February 28, 2014, Horse Tank Camp Kofa, AZ.
And getting some too
Right now, it’s dark out, I’m sitting in my van with the doors shut to keep any of the few bugs from being attracted to my light. There’s occasional lightening flashes far to my north and it’s starting to shower again. The wind is blustery, shaking the van a bit once in awhile. It’s real dark out as the clouds have hidden the stars. I like it. :O)
Morning
Let’s see, I woke up at the Palm Canyon trailhead this morning and it was rather windy, but still pleasant out. I took it easy getting going for the day as I was going to drive the short distance down highway 95 to the King Valley Road where I turned left onto it.
It was rather cool and windy as I left. I passed by Bill and Ann’s, the Kofa camp hosts and also RVSue’s rig as I left. Not a day for sitting outside visiting right now, so I continued on to my new camp spot.
Kofa map showing the road in and to Horse Tank where I am now camped.
I stopped here at the Kofa entrance to get a map and then continued on towards Horse Tank. Some weather starting to come in.
The road to Horse tank isn’t too bad. Four wheel is recommended, but a good driver could get a two wheel drive in here. No problem for the ol van.
Someone’s in my camp spot
So, I’m going along enjoying the scenery and almost to my camp spot and who do I see in my camp spot? This brought a smile to my face as it was the two people I talked to yesterday at Palm canyon. They must have been out on a hike as I didn’t see them or I would of stopped in. Hey, it’s not really my campsite and there are others around, so I wished them well and went on up to the end of the road at Horse tank. And they likely don’t even know they are in my camp spot? :O)
These are the folks that I hope enjoyed their stay at that spot. Nice people, I liked them both and the lady’s smile could melt me. :O)
Horse Tank hobble
Anyway, back at the end of the road, there was a Game and fish truck parked there, but no one around. I decided to give my ankle a test and walk up to the Horse tanks, which is two or three hundred yards up the trail. I should say, I hobbled along.
This is where the trail starts at the end of the road to Horse tanks. I hiked all the way back in there last year, it’s a neat area and fairly easy to hike or walk and some rock scrambling too. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to go up there this year, once I messed up my ankle.
So, I hobbled on up to the Horse tank water holes. My ankle telling me I wasn’t going on any hikes for awhile, but I made it to the water holes.
Here is one of them. Anything that holds water in this area is called a tank. The tanks are a very important water resource in an area like this. 
I hobble back down to my van, my ankle letting me know that I over did it.
Where to camp?
I didn’t want to camp at the end of the road as everyone that comes out the road will turn around there. So, the next spot was just back down the road a bit at the grinding cave spot. I already knew there was a van in there as I saw it when I went on by coming in. I could see four or five tents pitched on the path to the grinding cave and the van said it was Prescott College, but there are not many choices to stay in this area, so I looked around and found a spot, hoping my kayak friends might move on when they got back from their hike.
By the way, if you just stay in your car, you might not be real impressed with this place, but if you can get out and do some walking or hiking, it’s another real magical place. Most of it is easy to walk around and one only has to keep checking land marks to get back to camp.
More Yummy Tortillas
I made some more tortillas dough and finished off the tortillas dough I made yesterday. Hummmmm good. Maybe if I make enough of them, someday, they might be round?
I’m going to get my camp spot
I can see the kayakers from my van and eventually, I saw them walking around this way and that. Are they getting ready to depart? There they go, thank you.
I moved over to that spot, mostly just to get away from the College guys. And there was also a hole in the side of the hill I wanted to check out near this camp spot that I saw last year and was saving for this year, but can I make it up to it this year?
This is where I’m camped at Horse tank, actually just before you get to Horse tank, the last camp on the right of the road, before getting to the grinding cave camp area on the left.
There are lots of holes in the hills around here that make it sorta magical and when walking around, you just don’t know what might be around the next corner?
This is one of my views from my camp. Holes in the hill.
Some weather making things interesting
Just after getting things set up, it started to shower a bit, big drops and the wind howled for a bit too. I quickly got my chair and stool inside the van. It showered for a few minutes, wetting everything and making it smell nice, like rain. Then it cleared and presented a rainbow over the mountains to my north.
It’s hard to stay off my feet
Hummmmm, it smelled so good, I went outside, grabbed my camera and hobbled off to one of the first flowers of this type I’ve seen bloom this year. Everything smelled nice and fresh. Maybe the rain will bring more blooms?.
Ok, so I’m hobbling around on the trail to the hole in the hill I want to explore, but my ankle is telling me no. I haven’t gotten far and am still close to the van. Pain won and I decided to have a better look around right where I was.
So, this little bug caught my eye scurrying around the desert floor at a fairly fast pace. I’m not sure what it is. Maybe a tarantula wasp, or an imitator of one? We could just call it a little fury red bug.
And I stirred this little hopper up, I saw it do a little hop at my feet and found it in the rocks after much looking.
Nice to hear the rain showers beating on my van roof right now, sometimes hard, but mostly just a patter, with the wind picking up again. I’m hoping for lots of rain, the more the better.
Back to my hobbling along. This dead beetle caught my eye. Did it die of old age? Something to reflect on. Everything is here for such a short time.
Grounded for the rest of the day
My ankle was telling me to get off it, so I went back to my van and tried to stay in it the rest of the day. A long nap and then I drank a few cups of coffee.
I like this coffee maker as I can make a cup of coffee without steaming all my windows up in the van and it’s fairly fast and easy to clean up. Thanks Nina.
As long as I was grounded and stuck at my van for the rest of the day, I sat around and took pictures of the sunset. The trouble with great sunsets is there are too many good pictures to choose from and picking one is not easy, but this is the one this time.
That’s pretty much my day. I think the rain showers may have stopped for a bit and the wind is down, so I’m headed outside to see about maybe a camp fire, just a little one, but now I hear the wind again. Guess I’ll just stick it out in my cozy ol van..
Great day.