Sam And Saundra's Second Time Around - Part 17

Sam And Saundra’s Second Time Around – Part 17

Arizona/California

11/1/10-3/1/11 – Yuma Mini-Adventures - Imperial Dam

Driving from Yuma to Quartzsite, the road snakes in and out and through the Yuma Proving Ground – military-type.  No worries unless you see a poof of smoke. Might want to make a casual mad dash then. 

No Worrys

To get to the Imperial Dam, we turn left and follow a road until you see water. A nice green, green park with lots of quail and lots of concrete and water.  The dam creates a reservoir, and pretty much diverts all the water of the Colorado River into three branches of water. Two going to Arizona (Gila River/Yuma Project) and the main (All American Canal) going to the Imperial Valley in California.  Very little seeps into Mexico.  As an aside, the Columbia River starts in Canada. Mmm. Anyway, the green grass park area is set aside for tent camping only.  It is a very interesting place to see and I was amazed that the amount of the water that flows through this dam is 50 times more than the Rio Grande. 

Imperial Dam

We casually chased the quail and the white cranes, looking for the wild burros and following the water. The only trace of the burros that we found was an end product, which I actively and unsuccessfully ignored. Close by, we found another smaller dam called the Laguna Dam on the Yuma Project.  Can’t fish here without approval from the Fort Yuma Indian Reservation.  The weather was great and we were able to walk around much of the area and spent time talking to a friendly and knowledgeable park maintenance man. We took a quick look at Squaw Lake, checked out some of the RV parks and boon-dock sites and returned home, just in time to watch another beautiful sunset. A great day adventure.