Yaqui Well Camp Site

Sunrise is a great way to start the day.

After four nights at Fish Creek Primitive Campground (and since Tamarisk Grove is closed except for weekends due to budget cuts and would cost $20 a night if you could get a spot during wildflower season), we moved to Yaqui Well Primitive Campground (where "Primitive" means "be happy there's a vault toilet here"). We wanted to be much farther west and somewhat farther north of where we were at Fish Creek and this is it.

Yes, we (as everyone) camped right along the side of the sand road, but there's not that much traffic. Yes, it's not that far from the major highway through the park, but there's almost no traffic from shortly after sunset till shortly after sunrise.

And there are interesting things to see around camp. First, there's the Desert Mistletoe in the Acacia Tree. The Phainopeplas and other birds totally dig on the berries, so we were well visited by birds, too.

Then there's the Bladderpod bush, covered in little yellow flowers that the hummingbirds like and the funky pods that are filled with air.

There are things to do, too, if you are inclined to be a good citizen. There's trash that fatheads have left behind that could be picked up and added to your trash bag. But we also noted that the big post to keep folks from driving past a certain point was rotted at the base and pitched over. "We" (OK, my brother) removed the post, re-dug the hole, and reset the post. He did a great job.

The photo above is where we had righted the fallen post, before re-digging and re-planting.