Quartzsite 2022 – C. DeVore

Are you interested in an experience of a lifetime? Do you want to see all walks of life selling and buying basically anything you can think of? You have to experience Quartzsite. The sheer mass of people that were camped in this middle of nowhere, nothing town was just amazing. I would also say that 90% of these campers are retired and are in Quartzsite to enjoy the mild weather, desert scenery, and the wide array of vendors that are also camped out from October to March.

This was our family’s first time in Quartzsite, and we were only there for the weekend. Kiley’s goal was to find rocks, and it’s QUARTZsite, there are plenty of rocks. Anyway, we arrived Friday night and were greeted at the campfire by Bob and Lei Lani; Dan W.; Wayne and Angela S.; and Leslie (Robert C;s other half); and Chris and Diane Jo.

were also out on this trip. The area that we camped in was flat and easy to get to from the road. We brought our puppy Charlie out, this was his first camping trip, and he did great hanging out at camp and playing with the other dogs.

On Saturday we headed up to Parker to take the backway into Desert Bar. It’s been about 5 years since we had been on the trail, and the area has changed considerably. There were many more side trails and more rocks have been exposed, so it made for a bit of a rough ride. Desert Bar was packed, and we spent about two hours there. Desert Bar is about five miles down a dirt road of the main highway, it was a mining camp, but is now a destination for hungry and thirsty desert explorers. The facility is ever expanding, and I recently read an article that the owner proclaimed that it will never be done, and that’s the way he wants it, continually growing. Saturday night was spent around the campfire, telling stories and watching the dogs play.

Sunday much of the group had packed up and were headed out, Bob and Lei Lani decided to stay one more night.

We went down and visited all the vendors and the RV show. We could have spent the whole day walking through the vendor area with the amount of different items being sold. Kiley did manage to purchase a few rocks, and a few vendors gave her rocks. We spent only two hours exploring all that was available to look at and purchase. I would like to go back next year, and maybe spend a little more time exploring trails in the area.