Palm Canyon

We stayed here over the President's Day weekend just inside the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge approximately one mile past the Kiosk. Access was relatively easy, well maintained gravel road with some washboarding. The views of the Kofa Mountains from our campsite were magnificent. Very quiet area, wildlife consisted of Jack Rabbits and a few birds, this is a great place to view the night skies and enjoy the peacefulness of the Sonora Desert. We hiked up the road to the trailhead and into Palm Canyon, had great views of the valley below. We would definately return to this beautiful oasis.

Was just passing through for the night so I didn't trek the extra 5 miles down the gravelly road to get closer to the trail that everyone says is worth seeing. I could see some RVs out there in the distance but instead I settled for an open area about 500 yards off the main highway. Nice clean open site with a fire pit. No neighbors at all. Dead quiet at night except for a little highway noise. Verizon signal appeared strong but it was still on the slow side. The nearest tower sits about halfway between here and Quartzsite so I suspect it's heavily used by the mobs of folks in Quartzsite this time of year.

Palm Canyon Road takes you into the KOFA National Wildlife Refuge. We highly recommend you park your RV at the entrance and unhook your toad to go down the gravel road to scope out a place for your stay. The road is a little wash-board, so you will need to take it slow. We found a spot about 1 1/2 miles down the road. There were 9 OTA TV channels, 4 which were English. AT&T cell signal was very good at 2 bars 5G, especially with iit being in the middle of the desert! Very secluded and quiet at night. Beautiful sunrises and sunsets are a plus! Definitely take the Palm Canyon hike at the end of the road (about 7 miles). It is worth it to see the native palms!

We spent 11 days here in our fifth wheel. This is a well maintained gravel road off 95. You can either camp outside the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge or inside the park for up to 14 days. There are several locations to park along the 3 mile road to the refuge or you can keep going into the park but I only recommend that for smaller rigs since the road narrows and the camp spots are smaller. No problem for our 43ft fifth wheel anywhere along the 3 mile stretch. There are many spots to camp but there is a high bank on each side of the road so you'll have to watch for spots to pull off the road. Lots of long, flat gravel areas on both sides.

There is a spectacular view of the hills from any camp spot and a few cactus scattered around. We had beautiful sunrise and sunsets every day. We enjoyed 65 to 70 degree weather in January while our friends back home in Oregon and Washington were covered in snow.

I had terrific AT&T service with download speeds from 24Mbps to 60Mbps over the 11 days. T-Mobile had 2-3 bars so we could make calls but the download speed was below 1Mbps so it was not good for data.

We saw a few rabbits running around and captured a fox on our security camera one night. There are over 400 big horn sheep in the refuge but we didn't see any. The palm canyon is just down the road and a good short hike. Don't expect to see much for palm trees though. There are a few tucked up in the hills far above the trail. The road also turns off to Queen Canyon. That road is rougher and we decided our dually was not a good option so I biked 6 miles in to see the canyon. A couple people did have a van or truck camper there and had an even more amazing view but it would be slow travel to make it all the way into the canyon. There are more roads into the Kofa Wildlife Refuge with dispersed camping so if this one is busy you can head down 95 to other locations. We will definitely be back to this location again. The entire area is BLM or Refuge land that allows 14 days.

Camped at the Palm Canyon Bureau of Land Management (BLM) area approximately 3 miles from US Route 95 down Palm Canyon Road. After the slow, washboard gravel road approach, we were treated to sweeping desert views with the Kofa Mountains and Signal Peak as a backdrop. The entrance to the boondocking site we selected is to the right off of Palm Canyon Road at grid coordinates 33.3737682, -114.1734081. This location is large enough to accommodate multiple big rigs. AT&T cellular service was 5G and clocked in at 54.9 Mbps download speed and 9.92 Mbps upload speed. Verizon cellular service was LTE and clocked in at 15.5 Mbps download speed and 6.83 Mbps upload speed. Enjoyed hiking excursions in the nearby Kofa Queen Canyon and the more frequented Palm Canyon areas of the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge during our stay. This 14-day free camping BLM area is just outside of the refuge. Melody, Milo, and I absolutely loved boondocking the magical Kofa.

Palm Canyon rd is off of 95 between Quartzsite and Yuma. Canyon road in well maintained gravel. Their are several big rig friendly turn offs to camp next to main road. We took a right turn on small road that led to a variety of secluded camping areas. Watch the roads for some flooding when lots of rain. Unlike wide open Dome, Road runner, and Hi-Jolly the cactus and small bushes limit camping to Relatively established areas.
The hike up Palm canyon was wonderful. Rather long dirt/gravel road leads to the canyon parking lot. Only went about 3/4 of mile in so didn’t make it to the Palms but it was lovely amid the soaring canyon walls anyway.

Spent several days on BLM land along Palm Canyon Road about a mile outside the KNWR. Most BLM sites are within about 100 yards of the road, so you some occasional vehicles passing by. Signs and rock markers limit how far off the road you can camp in most places. In KNWR the camping sites are much closer to the road. Fairly quiet, though, with vehicles every 10-15 minutes at peak time mid-day. Would be a lot better if they didn't restrict how far off the road you can camp. A few trails in the area for hiking. Great views and sunsets. Some 4WD roads as well. The hike in Palm Canyon itself is short with 200+ feet of elevation change.

Palm Canyon Road is lined with numerous level, easily accessible sites that offer wide desert views, open skies for solar generation, and good internet signal. There's plenty of room for people to spread out and find a site that works for them. Plus, it's free. What's not to like? The road itself is dirt, but well graded and we found it to be minimally washboarded. Sites closer to state road 95 tend to be very flat with minimal vegetation, while sites within the wildlife refuge offer more vegetation in the form of cholla, saguaro, and ocotillo. There is a camp host at the entrance to the wildlife refuge, if you prefer being in proximity to a host.

Our only gripe with the campsite is that there's not a ton to do in the area. Palm Canyon offers a few short hiking opportunities, but otherwise we were left to explore the desert on flat, straight OHV roads. The town of Quartzsite has gas, but little in the way of other services -- the one laundromat in town is totally overwhelmed during the winter RV season, and the general store offers a very small selection of fresh produce and other groceries. We enjoyed our stay, but one week was enough.

We were just over a mile in from state road 95, and we had very acceptable speeds on AT&T: Download 68.46 Mbps Upload 11.57 Mbps

Easy to find, Palm Canyon is right off the main road. It's a dirt trail that is pretty washboarded but as long as you go slow it's an easy drive. There are easy turn-around areas pretty much anywhere. We found a nice spot near a wash out and some Saguaro's with the closest neighbor about a half-mile away. The next morning we hooked up and drove up the road for several more miles and there are seemingly endless places to set up shop.

We really enjoyed the solitude out here. It's only 12 miles or so to the town of Quartzite but we felt like we were alone in the desert. Great hiking and mineral hunting as well. We highly recommend this area if you want to get off of the beaten path.