The day after Thanksgiving this year I decided to take a trip I have been wanting to do for a while to Kofa national wildlife refuge in AZ. Kofa is only about 40 miles north of Yuma so is an easy 3 -4 hour trip from San Diego including stops in Yuma. http://www.fws.gov/refuge/kofa/
I have always wanted to check out the Yuma territorial prison as well http://www.yumaprison.org/ and since I was by myself on the way out decided to stop in. It is pretty cool and for $6 is worth the stop to see the living hell on earth some men and women had to endure while incarcerated there. If you ever stop here and are hungry be sure and go the Das Bratwurst Haus http://dasbratwursthaus.com/. Unbelievably good German food.
From Yuma I headed north to Kofa and met a buddy in a 100 series who came in from Palm Desert via the I-10. We met at King Valley road which is a good access point into Kofa and about halfway between Yuma and the I-10. From here we headed directly east towards Castle Rock dam. Having never been here we basically just chose a road on the map that looked promising for remote areas with mines.
We ended up going in about 35 miles not seeing anyone before we hit the end of the road 79 on the map and low and behold one guy in a 60 series was sitting there. So there we are in the middle of nowhere with a 60, 80 and 100 series Land Cruiser convention. Turns out the guy is from Yuma and has been haunting Kofa for 25 years and never sees anyone out there so was surprised when we pulled into his camp. After getting as much information out of the guy on the mines and ghost towns in Kofa we left him to his camp and headed back down the trail to find our camp.
Campsite first night a few miles from the 60 series.
Day 2 we decided to head over the the Castle Dome ghost town and then onto the Big Eye mine area for night 2. In total we traveled about 120 miles off road and I think Castle Dome was about 60 miles from our first camp site. The trails are not difficult but be prepared for a lot of desert pin striping along the way as the brush can get pretty thick.
Castle Dome city is a bit of a Disneyland ghost town as they do charge you $10 to get in and there are a lot of snowbirders who come in to see it on their Razor's and Jeeps they tow with motor homes. Still a pretty cool place to check out and eat a lunch before hitting the trail.
I have always wanted to check out the Yuma territorial prison as well http://www.yumaprison.org/ and since I was by myself on the way out decided to stop in. It is pretty cool and for $6 is worth the stop to see the living hell on earth some men and women had to endure while incarcerated there. If you ever stop here and are hungry be sure and go the Das Bratwurst Haus http://dasbratwursthaus.com/. Unbelievably good German food.
From Yuma I headed north to Kofa and met a buddy in a 100 series who came in from Palm Desert via the I-10. We met at King Valley road which is a good access point into Kofa and about halfway between Yuma and the I-10. From here we headed directly east towards Castle Rock dam. Having never been here we basically just chose a road on the map that looked promising for remote areas with mines.
We ended up going in about 35 miles not seeing anyone before we hit the end of the road 79 on the map and low and behold one guy in a 60 series was sitting there. So there we are in the middle of nowhere with a 60, 80 and 100 series Land Cruiser convention. Turns out the guy is from Yuma and has been haunting Kofa for 25 years and never sees anyone out there so was surprised when we pulled into his camp. After getting as much information out of the guy on the mines and ghost towns in Kofa we left him to his camp and headed back down the trail to find our camp.
Campsite first night a few miles from the 60 series.
Day 2 we decided to head over the the Castle Dome ghost town and then onto the Big Eye mine area for night 2. In total we traveled about 120 miles off road and I think Castle Dome was about 60 miles from our first camp site. The trails are not difficult but be prepared for a lot of desert pin striping along the way as the brush can get pretty thick.
Castle Dome city is a bit of a Disneyland ghost town as they do charge you $10 to get in and there are a lot of snowbirders who come in to see it on their Razor's and Jeeps they tow with motor homes. Still a pretty cool place to check out and eat a lunch before hitting the trail.
Last edited:
