Kofa New Year's Celebration 2020 - Shakedown With Our New Dog

DVD

Adventurer
Have you ever thought about where you'd like to be buried or have your ashes spread? Not to be lugubrious (such a fun word for a dour subject), but the thought occurred to me when considering the attraction of a place like Kofa National Wilderness Preserve.

Kofa is a big swath of desert wilderness (over 1000 square miles) in southwestern Arizona. Although the landscape lacks the drama and spectacle of many other destinations, the remoteness, wilderness, and subtle desert beauty impart a sense of peace and solitude that feeds the living soul at least.

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Typical trail view

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Wide open spaces
Here are some highlights from our recent New Year's trip to Kofa.

Planning a New Year's camping trip is always challenging. For both Laurie and I, an ideal New Year's eve would find us sitting around a campfire in remote, beautiful wilderness, under the cold brightness of the stars, with quiet, expansive solitude punctuated by the occasional din of coyotes howling.


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Nailed it! Settling in for New Year's Eve in Kofa

On the other hand, New Year's is the bleak midwinter--even in the Southwest, and Laurie is a cold wienie. This year, we were planning for a short, relatively nearby trip. We recently adopted a dog, and this would be our first trip with him, so a short, shake-down trip was in order. As the end of the year approached, the rains subsided, but temperature forecasts were below normal, with night-time lows of 38-42 deg. This was right at the margin for our go/no-go, but we intrepidly set out for a 3 day, 2 night short trip to Kofa and had a grand time.

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The first night was a bit cold

I always enjoy learning the history of places, and Kofa has an interesting history. The name "Kofa" is an acronym for "King of Arizona" mine. Apparently when mining was active in the early 1900s, supplies were stamped "Kofa," and the name was applied to the extended area. Many remnants from Kofa and other mines remain within the boundaries of the preserve.

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Big Eye mine

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Kofa Cemetery
According to accounts (although I've read conflicting accounts), Kofa is also home to the only naturally growing Palm grove in Arizona. I had seen photos, which were frankly underwhelming, so I was a bit reluctant to drive a few miles out-and-back to get to the trailhead, then hike another 1/2 mile or so, but it was a worthwhile excursion. People often say photos don't do a landscape justice, and that is very true in this case. The unusual sight of a big grove of palms growing in a distant side canyon made the side trip worthwhile. And of course, our photos don't capture the scale of the vista.

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That's a big grove of palms in the canyon

More to come; ran into photo limit.
 

DVD

Adventurer
The preserve was created through the efforts of the Boy Scouts, which launched a campaign in the 1930s to designate the land as a preserve for the dwindling population of bighorn sheep. The efforts have been successful, and Kofa now has one of the largest herds of bighorns in the Southwest.

Our first campsite was at the Horse Tanks, where natural pools in the rock provide water for wildlife. We kept our eyes peeled for bighorn sheep, but didn't see any. Another historical interest is the "morteros" or grinding holes in the area, used by native Americans.

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Trail 42 - leading to Horse Tanks and the answer to everything


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Horse Tanks campsite - we lucked out and found a big stash of pre-cut firewood and used it liberally on a chilly evening.

We had a moment of drama at the Horse Tanks campsite when we decided to let the dog off the leash-- visions of him bounding into the desert after a rabbit, never to be seen again. But he must realize where his food comes from, and he stayed nearby. We planned on having him sleep in his kennel, but it was cold enough that we built up the front footwell until it was even with the seat and let him sleep in the vehicle with us.

We came across many interesting sights as we meandered through Kofa.

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Exploring the Horse Tanks area

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Weird chalk hill in the middle of the desert

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The most intact headstone at Kofa cemetery

We had an interesting turn of events when finding a place to stay on New Year's Eve. This was our second trip to Kofa, and 6 years ago and stayed overnight at Hoodoo cabin, which is (available on first-come, first served basis). We were headed that way again this year and hoped to stay in the cabin on New Year's Eve. We saw only one other vehicle the entire day, so as we neared the cabin in the late afternoon, we couldn't help but think that it would be available for us. I tried to suppress visions of the three of us sitting around the toasty wood burner, toasting the new year. As fate would have it, two trucks arrived at the spur to the cabin less than a minute before us. They were nice older gentleman, so we couldn't be upset, and they were happy to let us look around the cabin before we headed down the trail to find a campsite.

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Hoodoo cabin history

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Nice woodburner in the cabin

Oops. Photo limit again.
 

DVD

Adventurer
We were happier that things turned out as they did. We had a great campsite for New Year's. The weather was just a few degrees warmer, with no wind - the difference between pleasant and a bit chilly. We couldn't imagine a better place to ring in the new year. We had a nice campfire. The night sky was spectacular, with the Milky Way drawing a swath across the sky, Orion slowly moving from left to right, between a couple of saguaros that stood like field goal posts, and the Big Dipper slowly emerging from the northern sky - all things we would have missed had we stayed in the cabin.

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Happy new year! Let's start with a good cup of coffee.

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Beautiful sunrise to start the year!

We had a pretty full day exiting Kofa on Hovatter trail. Lots more of the same subtle desert beauty.

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These jumping cacti were the dog's nemesis. He never grasped the concept that these were associated with the painful needles in his paws. We soon stopped bothering to put the tweezers away and left them on the dash. The good news is that the dog was a good patient when it came to removing the little clumps of needles - although he was a bit indignant when we referred to them as "pups."

The final highlight was the stop at the Hovatter homestead. The homestead burned down years ago, but the landscaping remains. Apparently the wife was a botanist by hobby, and the love of plants and attention to detail remain. We did a bit of research on the way home, and the wife's personally published books on desert fauna can still be viewed at the Phoenix Desert Botanical Garden.

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Circular driveway defined by sagauro cacti - note the handmade rock wall

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Saguaros spaced 6-ft apart, with cholla in between

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The father and a daughter are buried on a hill above the homestead

All in all, a great trip and a great escape.

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Leaving Kofa
 

1leglance

2007 Expedition Trophy Champion, Overland Certifie
I love the KofA area and the local Quartzite 4wd club puts out a great guide book to the surrounding area. The KofA stone cabin is one of our favorite overnight spots.
 

Cayuse

Observer
Thanks for the report! I've enjoyed a couple trips to KofA since moving to Mesa and thinking about another again soon.
 

Ace Brown

Retired Ol’ Fart
I have spent a fair amount of time in Kofa. I remember searching for the elusive palms when I heard someone say “look up”. Sure enough.

We also visited that mining cabin with the mailbox.


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What an incredible trip. The Arizona desert is vastly underrated, especially when you add in the nice winter weather!


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SBSYNCRO

Well-known member
Great write-up! Thanks for sharing the adventure. Are the cabins in Az as full of rodents as the ones in Death Valley/Mojave? I don't think I'd ever want to spend the night in any of them for fear of hantavirus!
 

1leglance

2007 Expedition Trophy Champion, Overland Certifie
Great write-up! Thanks for sharing the adventure. Are the cabins in Az as full of rodents as the ones in Death Valley/Mojave? I don't think I'd ever want to spend the night in any of them for fear of hantavirus!

The KofA Stone cabin is really clean and nice, the others are wood so yeah the little guys get in .
 

DVD

Adventurer
Thanks for the replies - it's always fun to re-live a trip by writing about it.
@1leglance , I'm pretty sure you gave me some hints on the area 6 yrs ago on our previous trip. I'll check that book by the Quartzsite group next time.
@Ace Brown , Great to hear from you again! Look forward to our next trip!
@SBSYNCRO , I think the Kofa cabins are marginally better. I looked at a few in DV that had hantavirus warning signs, and I definitely wouldn't want to stay in them. For Kofa, we stayed at Hoodoo 6 yrs ago, and didn't see any mice (or signs of them). This year, the guys who got to the cabin 1 min before us, said they had some mice when they stayed there a few years previously. It looked clean this year, so as we left they were debating whether to sleep inside or out.
That said, 6 yrs ago, we were initially planning to stay at Wilbanks cabin, but it had a fair amount of droppings and openings, so we went back to Hoodoo.
 

Ace Brown

Retired Ol’ Fart
Facebook just reminded me I was there two years ago. It was on my return from Baja for a stopover camp. We had a full supper moon (aren’t they all lately?), and I sat in my truck listening to the president’s State of the Union address and drinking good beer. It was a beautiful night all around.


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