Dome Rock Revisited - Sept 14-15, 2014

Yesterday....Sunday....I started the "camp breadown" to move today.  It doesn't take very long, so I decided to get groceries, gas, etc. Well.....what seemed easy peasy turned into a little road trip.

I went to the Roadrunner Grocery right in Quartzsite and it was closed. Come to find out, the roof had caved in during a rain storm some time back.  A lot of buildings in town are old with flat roofs.  Not really made for heavy rain storms.  From their website, it looked like a really great grocery store. They are supposed to reopen on the 26th...just in time for the snowbirds.  Well, that opening date didn't help me, so I knew there was only one alternative.  Drive to Blythe, CA to Albertson's.  45 miles round trip.  But, that was okay.  I had the whole afternoon.

I stocked up on everything in Blythe, then driving back, I decided I would park at a different spot at Dome Rock for overnight.  Get a different view.  Found a good, level site east of where I had been parked...  This will do!

I got situated and this is what greeted me ---

Some old, stately saguaros!  They look like they are guarding the mountain.  So, these are well over 100 years old.  Here's a little saguaro/Quartzsite trivia:

Just west of Quartzsite, AZ is the home of THE 47-armed saguaro cactus.  Although no one knows exactly, most estimate that this cactus is now about 300 years old.  Normally, this type of cactus dies at 150-200 years of age - mostly as a result of being uprooted by wind or washouts.  Saguaros can normally be found at elevations of 1000-3000 feet and develop 5-6 "arms".  This particular saguaro seems to be doing fine at a mere 900 feet, with more than nine times the usual number of arms.  

The saguaro blooms in the spring.  White flowers spring to life on top of the arms, and later a red fruit will grow.  This is Arizona's state flower!

I took a little walk around and, of course, snapped a few pictures.  One, in particular, coincides somewhat with the cactus trivia.  I found this saguaro with I don't know how many arms....probably about 12-15....way more than 5-6.  It is growing up through a mesquite tree.  Maybe it will hold a record someday !

Okay - enough about saguaros.  It's not like I haven't seen 1000's of them when I previously lived in Arizona, and will be seeing 1000's more while I'm here! But I just think they are fascinating!  Of course, they will be in quite a few photos in this post!

Lots of mesquite trees around this site....and a different view of Dome Rock...it looks a lot less imposing from here than when I was parked at the base.

So, this was just a quick overnight stop over...no pre-planning about it.  I'll just finish up with some more photos...

Yippee!  Rain in the forecast!  Probably from the Mexico hurricane.  Will cool things off a bit!

So long from Dome Rock.  I'm already at my next stop.  I will tell you all about it soon!